Everybody Else’s Girls
by Orefish
Summary: AU: Usagi, a High School senior, gets roped into sabotaging a popular musician’s concert with her grudge holding best friend, Haruka. Now she has to struggle with her daily torture from not just her nemesis, Minako, but Mr. Rockstar, Seiya as well!
1. Chapter 1

_Ok, this being in an alternate universe you will be probably annoyed to see people a little out of character – BUT that doesn't mean that I'm not going to try to put elements of their original personalities in here. I think I made Haruka pretty similar. Anyways! Please let me know anything you are thinking, post a comment so I can get a feel of what you reader folks are thinking. Anyways, please enjoy!_

* * *

**Everybody Else's Girls**.

**- Usagi - Chapter one: **

**G**od help me. It happened again. I was staring at a poorly drawn picture of myself with enormous breasts and thighs that could probably crush small children had they been on a real person. I absolutely hated getting these pictures and I absolutely hated the "artist" who gave them to me. I crumpled up the terrible drawing and threw it over the fence, there was no way I'd let Minako's antics ruin my lunch. It was, after all, the only moment of peace I got in my school day.

I heard the ball of paper hit something, what I didn't care I was more interested in eating. "Hey watch were you throw your ugly drawings of yourself, Usagi." A familiar voice came from the other side of the fence. I looked up to see Haruka's messy head of blond hair poking over the side like she normally did. She was a senior last year, when I was a junior. We both had troubles fitting in at school and I guess that's how we became friends. We would both spend lunch together everyday and she was nice enough to keep up the tradition even after she had graduated. She was a good friend.

"I didn't draw that." I said as I took an angry bite out of my rather mediocre tasting sandwich.  
"Really? But it looks _just_ like you!" She teased as she showed it to me over the fence.

I swatted it away with my hand and kicked her through the wire netting of the fence, "Yeah, I've seen it already. In fact I've seen it every day for the last week!"

"Minako?"

"Yeah, I don't know what she has against me. I don't even talk to her!" I screamed as I picked up the piece of paper and spitefully tore it up. Minako Aino was the trashiest, yet most popular girl in school. She was a party girl by nature and every weekend she had two objectives. One: get drunk, two: get laid. Remarkably, this has been achieved every weekend for the last three school years. Every Monday morning in class I got to hear her boasting about it since she first lost her virginity in a gas station bathroom when she was thirteen. She was truly the VIP for team "slut".

What has always confused me is why she was so infatuated with me. Every day she would find new, more creative, ways of torturing me. Some days she would put tacks in my shoes, on others she would spread nasty rumors complete with props - don't ask about that one, and then there were the drawings that she seemed to fancy _this_ particular week.

Haruka rolled her eyes and sighed, this wasn't the first time I had informed her of Minako's tricks, "Don't pay attention to that tramp." she told me, "That's exactly what she wants from you."

"You're right…" I murmured though I didn't really mean it. I guess I just didn't want to talk about it with her anymore, it was the same stale advice she gave me everyday. Of course she was one hundred percent right, but It was hard not to pay attention to her when she was zeroing in on me all the time. It was like politely ignoring a freight train while you're tied to the tracks.

"So you want to go to a concert tonight?" She asked me as she traced the top of the chain link fence.

"A concert? When have I ever expressed interest in those sorts of things? And no offence Haruka, I never took you as a concert type either..." I said as I continued my lunch.

"You're right, I'm not. I just have a particular reason why I want to go to _this_ one." She said with a mischievous smirk.

"And what's that?"

"It's a secret." She said with a wink, this could have only meant bad things.

I cocked an eyebrow, "I don't know if I should…"

Haruka laughed and pushed her bangs back, "Oh, come on! I know you'll like it. Besides what else do you have to do tonight?" The bell for the next period began to ring. I sat up and dusted off my uniform. Haruka was giving me her impatient face as she anxiously shook the chain link fence.

"Come on!" She said in an exaggerated tone, her eyes wide, waiting for my answer.

It was rare when I saw her so enthusiastic. So with a sigh I broke down, "Fine…"

"Oh you're awesome!" She said as she jumped a little, "I'll come by your house at eight."

"Yeah, fine, fine." I said waving my hand behind me as I walked off into the school.

-

Haruka and I got out of the car at the Space Dome down town. It wasn't the sort of place I normally went to. Every time I had been there it was always too crowded and too loud. Of coarse every time I was forced to follow my father to the hockey games that were held there when he decided we needed some "father daughter" bonding time. I supposed this would have been the perfect place for a concert.

"So why are we here again?" I asked as I shut the car door behind me. Haruka signaled me to turn around, "What?"

"See that mark there?" She pointed out an enormous silver dent in her passenger's side door.

"Geez, how did that happen?! How long has that been there?" I asked in shock as I traced a finger around the sharp edges of chipped and dented metal.

"About a week." She spat. It was strange to me that I hadn't heard about it earlier. Haruka's car was her life. Every time I hung out at her place I would have to hold a conversation with her feet while she worked underneath it. For the longest time I actually believed the absence of a boyfriend was because of her love for that car. It must have been like her Romeo dying, or at least being badly injured.

"Where did it come from?"

"He did it." Haruka pointed at the sign above the Space Dome. A young man with long black hair standing dramatically with an arm outstretched was posted on it. His blue eyes were sharp and fresh, giving his best "I'm a sexy musician" look. In large modern font it said: SEIYA KOU, the "O" was cleverly shaped like a star. I guessed it was his theme. He didn't look particularly offensive, he was actually kind of cute.

"That's kind of odd, why would he want to scratch your car?"

"Ok, I saw him zipping around in his little Ferrari one night and I decided to race him, right? We raced, he lost. And he couldn't take it. So he pretended like he wanted to go again at the next stop light so I stopped and the little bastard opened his car door and slammed it against mine!"

"That's not a very nice thing to do." I said staring in awe at the dent; I sort of wanted to know what happened to his car.

"It was a _dickish_ thing to do!" Haruka said waving her hands around, "I don't have this sort of money! He probably already got his Ferrari repaired. Meanwhile_ I_ have to scrounge up probably over two thousand dollars to get this fixed."

"So what do you want to do then?" I asked.

"I want him to pay what he owes me!" She screamed as she locked her doors. She then started to hustle into the back entrance of the dome; I blindly followed along feeling the insides of my pockets for change. If things got illegal I just wanted to make sure I had bus fare – which I didn't.

The back entrance was cluttered with groupies and various other people that worked for Seiya, they swarmed around him like flies on a carcass as he got out of his limo. All his fans begged at him like dogs screaming things like: "Seiya, look at me, look at me!", "Seiya, sign my autograph!", and "Seiya, I want to have your baby!" I felt a little embarrassed to watching those girls throw themselves at him like he was some sort of god, it was absurd.

"So how do we get in?" I asked Haruka, "Everyone here has one of those orange passes around their necks. I think we need one of those to get in."

"Yeah…" She agreed. She stretched out her neck and began to look around above the crowd. I could almost see the gears turning in her head as she spotted two of the fans that were standing idly around in back drinking coffee. Haruka casually strode up to the two men, her hands in her pockets like it was no big thing.

"Hey, how much you want for those back stage passes?" She asked them. They looked at each other for a minute and began to laugh hysterically and maybe a little overdramatically. I'm sure I shouldn't have thought it was funny but the way they laughed seemed quite similar to the old Beavis and Butthead cartoons I used watch behind my mother's back.

"We're not selling these!" One of the men exclaimed still laughing as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.

Haruka was getting angry and I was quickly beginning to see where this would lead to. "Why would a couple of tough guys like you be interested in Seiya Kou anyways? He's a singer performing for twelve year old girls. I mean…It's a little fruity, don't you think?"

The two men were now clearly offended and placed their coffee cups on the hood of someone's van. One of them started to walk towards us. His lip up turned showing a couple of missing teeth, "Hey, man, you wanna' start something?"

I was beginning to get worried; they thought that Haruka was a man. This happened often and normally it wasn't any big deal. But these men wanted to fight and Haruka couldn't take them both on and I certainly couldn't help her. I started to nudge her in the side to get her to move on and find other people but she didn't budge.

"I dunno', you like sweet sentimental musicians like Seiya…Maybe you're into other men…If that's the case then sure I'll start something with you." She said as she gave them a cocky little wink.

"Oh you _did not _just say that." The man said as he grabbed Haruka by her collar.

"Oh. I _did_." She said with a smile.

"Haruka…Are you insane?! You're egging them on!" I whispered to her through the side of my mouth, she didn't appear to be listening though. The man arched his arm back, his hand in the perfect round shape of a fist. Haruka spun out of his grasp and rammed her elbow into his stomach. He paused for a moment and bent forward, his mouth opened in the shape of an "o" as he placed a hand on his belly. Haruka then spun around behind him and slammed her fist against his back, pushing him to the ground. His friend came up behind him trying to jerk him back up to his feet but the other man wasn't interested in anything other than the pain and continued to moan on the ground.

"I am gonna' kick your fucking ass!" The man threatened as he ran at Haruka, she tried to dodge him but he grabbed hold of her arm, folded it behind her, and slammed her against the van knocking the wind out of her. Quickly, not knowing what came over me, I found the nearest metal garbage can and hit him against the head with it. It sounds much more effective than it really was, I could barely lift the thing over my head the weight of it was pulling it backwards the whole time so there wasn't much of an impact. The thug turned to me, unfazed, and grabbed me by one of my pig tales. I could see his hand coming at me from the corner of my eye and I quickly ducked my head down and closed my eyes, praying that someone would come and save me. I felt the quick motion of the man's arm but then it suddenly stopped. I looked up to see a hand grasping his fist, holding it away from me. I followed the hand to a man in a red suit with long black hair and blue eyes.

"That's no way to treat a lady." He said with his most cool and calm voice. The thug relaxed, his mouth dropped open in a dopey dumbfounded expression.

"O-Oh my god. Seiya just broke up _my_ fight, Toshi! Toshi! Get up, man! It's Seiya, dude!" Toshi didn't stand up though. He was still trying to get his wind back from Haruka's punch. I had no idea she was such a good fighter, it wasn't too shocking though, she was kind of butch after all.

Seiya held out a hand and helped the injured man up, he then took out a pen and autographed both of the men's shirts and then pushed them into the crowd with the other fans. He looked back to Haruka and I with an odd expression as if he were thinking really hard about something.

"You…" He pointed at Haruka, "You're from a couple nights ago. We raced."

"That's right, and I'm here for you to pay me back for my door." She said very matter-of-factly placing her hands on her hips.

"Oh yeah…that…" He said with a little smirk on his face, "I'll pay you back. One second." He began to rummage around in his pockets for something. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and gave it to her. She unfolded it and was suddenly taken over by a rekindled rage.

"You pompous ass! This is your autograph!" She screamed in fury, "This isn't worth jack shit!"

"Yeah." He said with a goofy laugh, he then skipped off pushing his way through the crowd to the backstage door.

Haruka gave another scream of frustration and crumpled up the autographed piece of paper, throwing it on the ground where she then stomped it into a proper pulp. In a fit of sudden rage she took me by the wrist and pulled me into the crowd. It was so chaotic no one saw that she had randomly stolen two backstage passes from around a couples' necks. She then swung the door open and yanked me inside with her.

It was dark and very loud in the dome, I saw people running back and forth behind the curtain with red and yellow glow sticks around their necks. I tied my jacket around my waist, it was surprisingly warm in there. It must have been the heat from the lights floating through the rafters.

"Put this on." Haruka commanded as she threw a neon pass at me.

"I really think we should go...We aren't supposed to be back here…Not to mention I really don't think he plans to pay you back."

"Oh that's fine, if he won't pay then I'll just play eye for an eye…" She grunted. She pulled me over to a dark corner of the back room, "Ok, I am going to distract some of those AV guys over there, when you see them leave go over there and pull the wires out."

"Which ones?" I asked.

Haruka concidered this for a moment, blinked and said sternly, "All of them."

"_All_ of them?" I repeated.

"All of them."

"What is it going to do?"

"Honestly, I haven't a clue." She stated as she walked off to distract the AV crew. I just sat in the dark watching her form disappear behind some equipment. Suddenly I heard her say, "Good lord! There is a drunken son of a bitch peeing on Seiya's guitar! I'm gonna' need some back up, here!" A few of the men heard this, jumped up and ran off to save the guitar. This was my cue.

As quickly as I could, I ran over to the strange black board the AV men were keeping such close watch over. I ran my fingers over a few of the colored wires and violently yanked a few of them out. Suddenly I heard the music in the background stop. For a few seconds the people in crowd were making their typical mummer but then after the music didn't come back on, people began screaming in protest. Suddenly realizing that I broke my rule of "no illegal activity", I began to sprint to where I saw Haruka disappear as men swarmed around the tampered board like bees on a broken hive.

I could hear the angry fans start to riot at the sudden power failure that I had caused. I was starting to feel uneasy. I envisioned the national news reporting how a schoolgirl was catalyst that started rampant mob violence at a popular musician's concert. My mother would obliterate me.

"What the hell is going on back here?! People are freaking out and coming up onto the stage!" A voice screamed from behind the giant curtain. What had Haruka gotten me into? I quickly turned a corner and began to search for my transvestite, trouble maker of a friend but in front of me stood the angry silhouette of a man. _"No big deal_," I thought, "_I'll just go through his legs or something! I've done crazier things already!"_

Unfortunately, this plan wasn't ever executed as I had tripped over some large black wire that was lying around on the floor. I tumbled forward and ended up skidding on my knees, stopping at the feet of the man who would most likely turn me into the police. I slowly looked up with my sweetest "It was an accident?" face only to see that Seiya was standing over me looking very, very irate.

He yanked me to my feet by my elbow and pushed me up against a wall looking me straight in the eyes. I would have found this very romantic had he not looked like he wanted to kill me. "Did you pull those wires out?" He asked. I quickly shook my head, though I'm positive he knew I was lying.

He grabbed me by the chin and forced me to look into his eyes, "Do you realize you have just ruined my reputation as a musician?!"

"You can do other concerts! It's no big deal…Right?" I said with a nervous laugh trying to make the situation seem not as bad. But his face was still very angry and almost fearful looking; it seemed uncharacteristic for someone who built their career around being a bad boy.

"Are you stupid?!" He screamed through a clenched jaw, "_I was lip synching_!"

That was a shock, now I knew why he looked like he wanted to eat my soul right then. He was probably going to be fired now that his secret was out. I didn't know what to do. I tried to look around him but he was holding my head in place.

"_Haruka! Where are you?!_" I thought.

"Maybe you shouldn't lip synch then?" A voice called out with a laugh from behind him. He finally let go of my head and swirled around, Haruka was standing with her hands on her hips and a satisfied grin on her face. He through a punch at her but she caught it with her hand and threw his arm to the side causing him to stumble and fall to the ground.

She squatted down beside him and blew a kiss at him, "It's not very nice to throw punches at women…" she said with a laugh as she took me by the wrist and led me out. I looked down at Seiya who hadn't bothered to get up from the ground, I felt sorry for him, even if he was a cocky ass. No one deserved that type of humiliation.

We sprinted through the Dome and ran into a group of men who were probably looking for us. She pointed her finger out and said, "Two girls went over there!" The men weren't the brightest because they had fallen for another one of Haruka's "look over there" tricks. We ran past them and slipped out the door with ease then bolted to the parking lot.

Out of breath, I placed my hands on my knees, "Don't you think you went a little too far?" I asked.

"Absolutely not." She said in a cruel tone as she unlocked the doors to her car.

"We might have just ruined his career back there! All because he dented your car," I shook my head as I sat down, "It's just not right."

There was silence for most of the trip back to my house. Haruka's face was twisted up like she had eaten something sour. I could see that her conscience was starting to get the better of her. We turned on to my street and she opened her mouth for a second as if she had something to say, then closed it figuring she shouldn't say it. Then opened it again, "You know, I think a man who shakes his ass on stage while pretending to sing needs his share of humility. Especially after _purposely _wronging me and not feeling he needed to repay me. Once I got this car fixed up I was going to sell it. So I see this whole ordeal as an eye for an eye. He ruined my livelihood, I ruined his."

I opened the door and sighed, "Haruka I don't think the two things weigh the same at all. He dented your door, and in exchange you ruined his entire career, at least you still have your reputation as a mechanic, don't you?"

Haruka looked down at her hands resting on the steering wheel and didn't say anything.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Next time keep your grudges to yourself, you almost got me arrested today." I said as I slammed the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**- Usagi - Chapter two: **

**A**fter Haruka's little adventure, the next few days went as they normally did; crap from Minako, lunch with Haruka, the same old, same old. I never expected to see Seiya Kou again, not on T.V any more and thankfully not in person. Or so I had wished. On one rainy Wednesday, I spied a pair of familiar blue eyes peering at me from an English class I happened to be strolling by. Just my luck.

The girls flocked around him and the guys hated him. He was a hack in their eyes and not nearly worth the amount of girls he was getting. Though he was being offered endless female pleasure everyday of the week, he simply ignored it and moped to himself. I didn't bother going to greet him, I was actually afraid he'd try and kill me. The way he would look at me as I passed him in the halls was enough to send shivers down my spine. I figured from how I read him, he wasn't happy to be at a public school and he was probably there because of me.

I sat against my tree by the fence as I usually did, and as scheduled, Haruka's sandy head popped over the side. She gave me her cocky tom boy smile and blew the hair from her eyes with her bottom lip.

"How's it going?" She asked me as she casually leaned against the fence.

"Eh…Not so good." I said as I pulled out my lunch.

She sighed and looked at me with the look of a scolding mother, "I told you not to let her get to you." She said.

"No. It's not Minako." I looked at my sandwich and realized I wasn't in the mood to eat. So I set it beside me and quickly forgot about it.

"What's wrong then?" She asked. I looked over my shoulder around the tree and pointed at Seiya who was sitting at a picnic table by himself, his head in his folded arms. It was a perfectly depressing picture.

"Oh wow!" She said with a giggle.

"You're way too happy about this…He looks so sad."

"Oh I am," She said then suddenly talking louder she screamed "Looks like the shit's really hit the fan for Seiya! Whew!"

I jumped up and tried to silence her with my hand all the while she was hooting and laughing hysterically. I looked over at Seiya who had now popped up from his seat at the table and was quickly walking in our direction. I tried to wave him away pretending that she had said something else but he had heard it crystal clear.

"What the hell do you want from me?" He asked as he closed in on Haruka, his hands balled up into fists, "You've ruined my career and now you need to add insult to injury?"

"Yeah I do. Someone needed to teach your cocky ass a lesson." She said looking as if she was ready to climb over the fence and pop him one.

"Come on you guys, can't you just apologize and put this behind you? The damage has been done, let's not cause anymore!" I tried to reason with them but the two were lost in their own argument, both shouting louder than the other to be heard but in the end they were both just screaming. I pushed myself away from the argument knowing that anything I said would have been a waste so I sat back down and watched them duke it out.

"Um Usagi?" A soft voice came from behind me, "I wanted to return your book that you lent me. It was a big help with my project." I looked over to see striking green hair flared about on top of a beautiful porcelain doll face.

"Oh it's no problem Michiru." I said as I took the book from her delicate hands. Michiru Kaoh was a girl in my class that I had known of for years but never really got to know enough to call her a friend. She was nice to me but from a completely different world. I was a bit of a middle class out cast while she was rather rich and popular and, of course, stunningly beautiful. I think Haruka had no troubles noticing that. She stood wordlessly with a goofy look on her face as Seiya continued to argue with her but it was safe to say, by looking at how far her jaw had dropped, she wasn't listening.

Michiru blinked for a second and tried to look away to shake Haruka's eyes off of her but that girl's stare was relentless. Trying to make it a little less awkward for her, I felt it was necissary to introduce them to each other.

"Oh, Michiru, this is my friend Haruka," I gestured to her, "Haruka this is Michiru."

Michiru smiled and waved at Haruka and she returned it but she abruptly began muttering something, still not able to peel her eyes from the girl. I couldn't hear what she had said very well but it sounded like she suddenly had to go somewhere. And it must have been an emergency as she immediately bolted down the street without saying so much as "bye". Meanwhile, Seiya slammed his hands into the fence pissed that he was stuck behind it having to watch his enemy sprint away.

"Hey! I'm not finished with you!" He screamed at her backside, but she was almost completely out of sight by then.

"Well!" Michiru said awkwardly, "I have to go, thanks again!" She gave a quick wave, and then rushed off to her group of friends who were waiting for her at her lunch table.

Seiya walked over to me with his hands in his pockets. I looked up at him and gave him my friendliest "don't hurt me" smile. However, he didn't look like he was in a forgiving mood. Feeling uneasy as he came closer, I placed my face in my knees and covered my head.

"I'm not going to hit you - I wouldn't hit a girl," he said nudging my leg with his foot, "If I did I would have punched your friend in the face by now."

I stood up and held out my hand in the universal shake sign, "Um. My name is Usagi Tsukino." He humored me, taking my hand and shaking it while staring me in the eye. His hand was warm and sent the same shivers up my spine I got in the halls when I glanced into his eyes. He really was a rock star. He had the hair, the attitude, and those eyes. He probably had won over hundreds of girls with those eyes, not me though. I found them frightening. I found it all odd though; we were inches from each other's faces at the dome. We were so close I remembered feeling his breath on me. I saw his face in angles only the way a girlfriend could, yet despite how intimate the situation was, we only had hatred between us.

"I'm sorry… About the wires…" I said as I pulled my hand back. His face went from neutral to angry in only a second. It appeared that the subject was not expected and certainly not welcome with him, I should have known better.

"Do you know why I'm here?" He asked glaring a hole into my skull. I shook my head and backed away a little, "I was fired. The record company I was signed onto decided they didn't want me anymore after finding out that I was lip syncing. So I have to get a real education since I'm no longer wanted in the music industry."

I was silent for a moment, I didn't expect to have anything to say to that but there was something I felt I had to. It was probably suicide but I said it anyways.

"Well had it been just a technical error wouldn't you have been let go anyways?"

He shifted a little where he was standing; he folded his arms in front of his chest and looked away for a moment. He appeared as if he was going to counter my statement but after fighting a small inner battle he just decided to sit down next to me. He sighed and stared blankly at the fence, his head hanging progressively lower and lower.

"Probably," He said as he rested his elbows on his knees, "I can't really sing. My manager discovered me when I was modeling for local menswear stores in my hometown. He asked me if I could sing, and I showed him what I could do and he seemed to think I was good. But it wasn't good it was 'good enough'."

I shakily placed my hand on his back, unsure if he would accept the gesture, "I'm sure you were good. I mean you _did_ get as far as you did." I tried to reassure him but he gave a bitter chuckle and shook his head.

"He started adding all sorts of special effects to my voice so no one could really tell if I was good or bad…Truth is, I'm not good. I'm average. I don't even know how to read sheet music."

I never expected him to tell me all of this. Maybe he had been so humbled by what Haruka had done he decided to accept everything with grace. We sat together in peace for a while, I felt too uncomfortable to say anything though. Suddenly he shrugged my hand from his shoulder and stood up.

"Just because I told you this doesn't mean we're friends. I may have been fired if it was a technical issue but it wasn't the hand of god, it was you. You should know I was living a perfect lifestyle. I was rich and famous and loved. And now I'm the subject of every joke on late night T.V." He looked down and smiled resentfully, "So needless to say, I hate you."

"Seiya…I'm sorry." I said looking up at him. Suddenly a pair of black high heels appeared before me. I followed them up to their owner's pale legs, shamelessly short skirt and long blond hair. Her mouth was curled up in a malicious smile and suddenly a ball of sharp paper edges was thrown at my forehead. I stood up and took the wad of paper and squashed it so tightly in my hand my knuckles had gone white.

"Minako, what do you want?" I asked sharply, she smiled and shook her face at me.

"Even a stupid bitch like yourself should know why I'm here. I made another masterpiece for you." She said with a witch-like laugh. She turned to Seiya, who looked a little confused, and forced a handshake on him. "Minako Aino." She stated as she violently shook his hand.

"Hi." He replied, his eyebrows curving in befuddlement. Only a few seconds after she introduced herself, she had an arm draped over his shoulders and a hand on his chest.

"I see you've met the dyke queen here," she looked up to him lovingly, "I suggest you stay away from her. She has all sorts of nasty diseases from licking too much carpet. You won't be able to get a girlfriend here if people think you have contagious dyke diseases." The anger was rising up in me every time she gave out her exasperated laughs. She normally didn't talk to me, she just tortured me from afar but today she was different. She knew she had an ally against me, someone whose popularity could send waves of hatred from the entire student body directly at me. Seiya was the photon cannon of peer torture.

Minako leaned closer to Seiya who was now looking a little unstable under her weight, she was still making her stupid bitchy comments at me but after a while she was just repeating the same lines over and over again. She wasn't much of a thinker, so she had to keep her old train of thought running. I quickly pitched the paper wad at her own face and it bounced off her head like it had done with me but it ricocheted back and hit me in the chest. A boob hit. Real smooth, Usagi.

"Nice shot." She said as she continued to belt out her loud donkey-like guffaws. Completely fed up, I decided it was time to go to Chemistry. I walked passed her and gave her a slight bump with my shoulder sending her and Seiya toppling to the ground. I could hear some more nasty comments coming from behind me but I didn't really care. I just pretended I couldn't hear her.

-

By the time I had settled down at my desk I was beginning to regret reacting to Minako. I was seeing so much red I had forgotten I had to deal with her in my Chemistry class. In fact she sat right behind me, the most excellent place for her to quietly harass me without getting caught. She would undoubtedly jab me in the back so many times she'd start to draw blood since I pushed her. I could see it in her face as she walked into the class room shaking her rear a little more than she usually did every step. Then I noticed why. Trailing behind her was Seiya. He was apparently in my Chemistry class now and most likely would be Minako's new best friend.

I ducked my head down into my arms as I listened to the chair behind me pull out. The blond demon didn't hesitate in violently kicking my seat immediately after she had sat down. I peeked over my shoulder to see her and Seiya glaring at me. This wasn't my day.

Mr. Chiba, our Chemistry teacher sat up, peeled his reading glasses from his handsome face and placed them on the desk. He stood up and held a hand out gesturing to Seiya introducing him and then quickly got to business, as he always did. He took out a large stack of papers and aligned them by tapping them against his desk

"These are your projects." He informed us as he held them high up in the air, "It is due one week from today. You will work with a partner of my choosing and together you two will decide what your topic will be."

As he began to pass the papers out, I looked nervously around the room. My normal chem. partner, Rei, patted my hand and smiled at me with her deep blue eyes, "I hope we get to be partners" she said cheerfully.

I nodded, "I hope so too."

Mr. Chiba then pulled out his seating chart and studied it for a second, "Ok, these are your partners. Listen closely, I'll start alphabetically: Minako Aino is partnered with Usagi Tsukino."

Damn it all to hell.

I wanted to slam my head into my desk and end it right there. Of all the people in a class of twenty-five I was stuck with the daughter of Lucifer himself. She pounded on her desk in protest but her efforts were ignored by Mr. Chiba who was relentlessly continuing down the list. I then started to hear snickering from behind me. It was Minako and her snotty party girl friends verbally tearing me apart "behind my back". They knew I could hear them though. This was going to be an awful week. Not only was I probably going to have to pull Minako's dead academic weight, I would also have to deal with her insults the entire time.

Mr. Chiba then allowed us time to go to the library to start our research for the rest of the period and everyone exited the classroom to go do everything but. I followed Minako out of the classroom all the way until she pushed open a black door and we were out of the building all together. She plopped down on a short brick wall that separated the building from the landscaping.

"What are we doing out here?" I asked. Not looking at me, she shrugged and pulled a pack of cigarettes and lighter from her purse. It was strange; though she was still very cold she wasn't trying to ruin me. Perhaps she only did it when her friends were around? If that was the case I figured I had the power to turn our bad relationship into a better one.

I stood and watched her blow some of the smoke out of her nose as I thought of some casual conversation starters. I decided I'd start with something simple. "That perfume you're wearing smells nice." I said, my voice shaking in fear of all the possible outcomes of that one innocent statement.

"It's mango body spray," she corrected me in a monotone voice, still not looking at me, "My dad owns the company that makes it, so I have a lot of it at home. It comes in apple too."

Great, I was getting somewhere. "That probably smells good too, right?"

"Yeah…" She laughed, though still halfhearted about the conversation, "No. My mom uses the apple spray when she's done dropping a bomb in the bathroom. So I now associate the smell of apples with bathroom farts." She said as she took another drag from her cigarette. I just stood silently trying not to show my "what the hell?!" expression that was battling to take over my face.

I leaned my upper body over the wall and watched my pigtails dangle over the sides. This wasn't going the way I planned, maybe I was wrong and she still hated every fiber of my being even when she wasn't with her friends. She had to be just screwing with me. She called all the shots with my life. Who would like and who would hate me rested in her hands. I could never win. I was thinking of giving up and going back inside when suddenly out of the blue she asked a question that startled me.

"Do you like the new kid?" She asked.

I started to feel my face get hot so I held my head a little lower as I felt my pigtails touch the dirt below, "No. He's a jerk to me. If I did, he wouldn't deserve it."

She did another carefree shrug and blew some more smoke out of the side of her sparkly pink lip glossed mouth, "I think he's got a thing for you." She stated. I then looked up questioningly at her and she finally broke her gaze with nothing and looked down at me, "He said I was a bitch for calling you a dyke earlier. If you weren't such a dork I would be positive he had something for you."

This was news. From what I saw he wasn't interested in me in the slightest. He told me he hated me. But what if it was a lie? I shook my head shaking the idea out of my head. "Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it," I said backing away, "If he knows what a great big bitch you are then why is he hanging around with you?"

Minako put her cigarette out on the concrete top of the wall and flicked it into the grass. She then straddled the wall in her skirt and flipped her blond hair to the side, her mouth curled up into a strangely playful smile, "I think you're afraid of him."

"Yeah, I'm afraid he's going to end me." I said with a nervous laugh.

"No, no, I think you're afraid of him because he's a _guy_," her voice was now becoming devious and her smile was growing wider with every second. She was like a wolf, she could sense how uncomfortable she was making me and she was enjoying it, "Now that I think of it I've never seen you with a guy."

"I have a few guy friends…" I said shakily, it was a lie though.

"Yeah right," She said with a laugh, "That transvestite you hang out with doesn't count. You're a virgin aren't you?"

I started to back away to the doors behind me, this wasn't something I wanted to think about let alone talk about with my nemesis. She was starting to push me to the edge.

"Ok…ok…What if he asked you out? Would you go with him?" She asked. This was beginning to sound strangely like girl talk.

"No." I stated with confidence, though inside I was thinking other things. I wouldn't know what to say if he asked me out. I didn't know him. I didn't know what he would want from me.

"Oh! Why not?" She said as she slapped her hands against the concrete.

"I'm not that type of girl…" I wrapped my arms around my waist.

"You're afraid he'll want to have sex with you aren't you?!" She said joyously as she watched me flinch a little. I could see a spark in her eye. Se was pleased to know that she had pushed all the right buttons, "Oh my god! You're afraid to be fucked! That explains so much! I've seen nerds worse than you have better sex lives. I mean even Runny Risa has fucked someone and she's a god damned tank - that smells like piss no less! Oh and then there is Nami Tomokazu, you know the girl with the pizza face? She's boasted doing it doggy style in the library after school! You need to get that ass in the game!"

She was now breaking out into laughter that was like poison to my ears. Here I was willing to make an attempt to meet her half way and be friends but she just pushed me right back into my hole. With my throat too closed up to speak I swiftly turned around and ran back into the school pushing the door shut with my back, all the while cursing her, wishing the worst on her.


	3. Chapter 3

**- Usagi - Chapter three: **

**I**t had been two days since Minako and I had our "little talk" and I began to wonder, if in some twisted way, it meant something. Every moment after that time had been relatively quiet. I hadn't heard a peep out of her or her friends. I was wondering if she grew a heart and decided to leave me alone. I was wrong. The next morning I opened my rusting blue locker to find wave upon wave of plastic wrapped squares flow from it. I bent down to half figure out what they were and half shove them back into my locker. Amongst the squares I saw a folded piece of paper it read in big obnoxious letters:

CONDOMS!!!!FOR YOUR SPECIAL MOMENT!!!!

Suddenly it all came together. I was standing ankle deep in condoms. Fantastic. They must have took some time slipping them, one by one, into the vents of my locker. I quickly began to shove them back in before anyone saw me but every handful I took at least two or three managed to slip through my fingers. Suddenly I felt a presence behind me. I stopped what I was doing and stayed completely motionless hoping that whoever it was would just go away. Maybe they wouldn't see me? That was a stupid thought. The person came down on one knee and I just stared into the blackness of my locker with my hair hiding my face, pretending not to notice. Suddenly a hand picked up one of the condoms.

"Wow. You must get around A LOT!" A voice said in awe. I looked up to see Seiya holding the plastic square between his thumb and forefinger. His other hand placed over his mouth and his eyes squinting excitedly. I quickly snatched it from his hands and threw it and last of them into my locker. I was getting tired of this.

"Would you just leave me alone?" I pleaded. His eyes softened to a more authentic look, "Do you know what I have to go through everyday?"

He turned his head to the side, his expression relaxed and comfortable, "Yes! And you deserve it!"

That ass. He obviously didn't know anything about anything. He had only been around for a week and he thought he knew everything about me, he thought I deserved the hell that people brought upon me day after day. I _obviously _had caught the rest of the school lip synching too so they knew that I was no good. I was sick of seeing Seiya, he didn't know me at all but he had already to jump to conclusions and condemned me. Looking very hurt I shook my head and just pushed past him. I felt a hand grab the end of one of my pigtails, I turned back to see him giving his best "don't be a poor sport" look but I just yanked my hair back and continued on.

-

The time had come for Chemistry and our teacher had given the class time to work on our projects in the library again. Mr. Chiba was too trusting with his students. Most of the class wasn't even in the library they were all off goofing around waiting for the weekend to panic and throw everything together. Not me though, I worked diligently on my project, and I say "my" because it basically was. Minako and I had formed a nonverbal agreement to have me do all the work, I didn't mind though. I would probably have to soldier through all the work alone landing me a B or C, but as long as I didn't have to work with the girl, I would be perfectly happy going it alone.

After sifting through my papers I noticed I was missing a formula. I began to look through my pink school bag for my Chemistry book but after pushing various loose papers and folders aside, I noticed it was missing. I must have left it at home. I looked around the library with some hope that there was at least one other person there but, with no shock, there wasn't. Reluctantly, I stood up. I knew that Minako had brought her book to school. She always did to make it appear that she was paying attention when she was really marking up my shirt with her pen. She probably hadn't opened the book since she received it at the beginning of the school year.

I walked to the black doors that I had run through when Minako was interrogating me the other day. I peeked through one of the windows to see her head bobbing around as she chatted mindlessly with some unfortunate soul. I popped my head out the door to get a better look at who it was and suddenly I felt a blush rise on my cheeks. She was with Seiya. I saw her flip her hair around flirtatiously as she laughed and talked with him, telling him god knows what about me. Probably something awful, she really was a relentless bitch. I stepped outside and folded my arms around my waist and tried not to make eye contact. I could here her chuckling lightly and whispering something that sounded like "speak of the devil".

"M-Minako, I need your Chemistry book, I left mine at home." I said flatly trying to get this confrontation over and done with as quick as possible.

"Sure." She said, I heard the zipper on her bag open up and she rustled through it, then suddenly I heard her stop.

"Are you ok?" Seiya asked. I looked up to see her sporting a little green hue to her face with her hand on her forehead. She was breathing in and out the way you do before you throw up. She stood up but her legs weren't cooperating with her causing her to lose her balance on her high heels. I jumped up beside her and swung one of her arms over my shoulders.

"I…I need to go to the nurse." She said in a breathy voice, barley moving her mouth. Seiya took hold of her other arm and assisted me as I brought her down to the nurse. It was so strange how suddenly she had become sick, I had never seen it before. One minute she was fine and doing her usual thing and another she was almost completely incapacitated.

Seiya took on most of her weight as I opened up the door to the Nurse's office. Sitting at her desk was Ms. Meioh our young and pretty new nurse. She was a tall elegant woman with very long dark hair and naturally tanned skin. I had only talked to her once when I came to get a Band-Aid but from what I gathered she was a sweet woman who cared genuinely for the students. She was talking to a tall man with brown hair pulled into a ponytail, arranging flowers in a strangely ornate vase. She looked up at and jumped to her feet upon seeing Minako in her awful state.

"Ms. Meioh, Minako needs to lay down I think." I said as I watched Seiya lead her to a cot. With some worry on her face she walked up to the girl, she looked up at the man with the brown hair and said, "I'm sorry but I'll have to talk to you later." He gave a silent nod and walked out. She looked back up to see Seiya looming over her shoulder but she waved him away.

"Would you two please wait outside or go back to class?" She asked with her back facing us as she pulled one of the privacy curtains around the cot. Feeling no need to argue I walked out and sat in the hallway, Seiya followed behind me and rested against the ugly blue and yellow tiled wall opposite me. There was some silence between us. I really didn't know what to say to him since he openly expressed his hatred for me, which was probably now magnified by whatever lies Minako had told him. But it didn't matter, I told myself. I hated him equally as much. Right?

"Don't listen to anything Minako has told you about me." I said out of the blue, Seiya smiled a little and arched his eyebrow at me. I knew he was thinking of something mean to say, "Not that I care what you think! I mean you're just a male version of her anyways..."

His smile wiped away pretty quickly after I said that, "That's not nice to say about me. I'm nothing like her. And she wasn't saying anything bad about you."

I gave a bitter laugh and arched my eyebrows, "Oh! I'm sure she wasn't! She only flooded my locker with condoms this morning…"

"Well, I don't know what that was about but strangely enough, she was trying to get me to ask you out."

I immediately stopped breathing and my face got hot. My hands fell to my sides. I must have looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Did she tell him about our conversation? Was this some sort of cruel joke? What was going on? Quickly, I tried to regain my composure and acted as if I didn't care. I did care though. I cared a lot.

"Which, by the way isn't happening." he continued. "I mean every time I see you I start to feel sick. You know…maybe that's why Minako got sick? She probably saw your sneaky little ass skanking around and felt like she needed to throw up. I know I do!" That really stung. He then proceeded to ham it up pretending as if it was some sort of revelation.

"Right, right, that's it." I said sarcastically, "Now that you've made that clear…You can go back to class - or whatever pretty boy slacker thing you were doing, and be an ass _there_. Maybe take a cat nap, looks like you didn't get enough beauty sleep anyways. Or did you just forget to put your make up on?" Good one! I thought to myself accepting a pat on the back from my ego.

He stood for a moment and looked very amused; he had an odd smile on his face and folded his arms in front of him. "Why don't _you _go back to class?" He asked me.

"Because I don't want to have to walk with you and even though Minako is a bitch she's sick and staying here with her is – believe it or not, the lesser of two evils."

I refused to look at him but I could feel him staring strangely at me in the corner of my eye. I was about ready to turn and ask him to stop but without a word he disappeared and went back to class like I suggested. After he was out of sight I slumped down onto my butt and leaned against the tiled wall behind me. I pounded my fist against the floor in frustration. I don't know why I was so angry. He really wasn't like Minako _that _much and I was beginning to feel bad about saying that. He was a jerk to me but out of all the people that hated me he surprisingly seemed to have the most humanity. I suppose I found it strangely attractive in some sort of sick perverse way.

The door to the nurse's office opened up and Minako emerged silently. She looked down at me and appeared to be a little shocked to see me still waiting there. I stood up and dusted my navy blue skirt off.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Better, but still a little shitty. Can't be helped though." She said as she began to walk down the hall. It was true she did look a great deal better than she was before, but there was something different about her. Her face looked like she was feeling something, which was unusual because normally she didn't look like she'd ever felt anything in her life besides the joy of being a sadist. Something was very wrong and though I didn't want to admit it, I was worried.

I peered at her face and watched her expression slowly get worse, I furrowed my eyebrows up and tried to see her face while we walked but her bangs were in the way. "Minako?" I asked, my tone showing more concern than I wanted. I received no reply only a high pitched whine that suddenly turned into a sob. Not wanting to cause a scene, I quickly pulled her into one of the girl's bathrooms. She was full out crying now.

I quickly got some toilet paper from one of the stalls and gave it to her as a substitute for a tissue. She sat down on the bathroom counter and wiped her face which was now as red as a beat. Not knowing what to say, I just waited till her howling died down.

"I know I've pushed my luck," She said between sniffles, "I've done things in excess but I know I would have stopped at some point. I would have, I really would. I just wanted to have fun...I didn't deserve this…"

I turned my head to the side, "What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I'm fucking pregnant." She groaned out trying to wipe her tears away without messing up her make up but she was fighting a losing battle.

"You just found that out now?" I wondered if the nurse had done some sort of surprise school pregnancy test or something. The idea seemed a little odd to me.

"No, I've known about it for a couple days now. I took a home test and figured it out. Nobody knows, I told the nurse I was just feeling sick because I didn't eat breakfast."

"You haven't even told your friends?"

"Friends?!" She said with a bitter laugh, still holding the tissue to her face which was shining with tears, "I don't have any real friends. Those girls I hang out with don't know anything about me. They're always too drunk to care about anyone other than themselves and their fuck for the night. I can't come to them with this."

"Why are you telling me then?" I asked.

"You don't have any friends besides your he-she you hang out with. Who are you possibly going to tell?" I took offence to that; she really had no right to say those things about me or Haruka when I was the only one that would listen to her. I wanted to tell her to go find somebody else but I held my tongue.

"I'm thinking of sneaking an abortion before anyone finds out." She said with a sigh. I wound a finger nervously in one of my blond pig tails, this was my place to give advice and I wasn't sure how she'd react to what I had to say. So I stayed silent and just stared off, focusing on one of the stalls like it was the most important thing in the world. She looked over to me, grabbing my attention, and for the first time I saw that she had very pretty blue eyes. I had never seen them before because I had never really looked her in the eyes. I always felt too inferior to, but now…now it seemed that we were equals, just two girls talking in the bathroom.

"Minako," I said sternly looking deep into her worried eyes, "I don't like you. I won't pretend to like you. From my observations I can safely say you are the most worthless human being I've ever met. You're an irrationally cruel person and I don't think I'd ever see you as a good mother but,"

Her face was shocked and hurt, "Hey, fuck you! I knew I should - " she screamed but I swiftly put my hand up in front of her.

"I'm not finished! _But _I don't think that anyone is truly bad and if you want to do something good and give meaning to your currently dysfunctional existence, you should keep the baby, find the father and work together to make your child have a better life than you do."

"You're right…I am a pretty shitty person." She sobbed she was now looking down at the floor, her hand clamped over her eyes and her lips peeled back in an agonizing grimace.

I kneeled down in front of her and took her hand from her face making a "shh, shh" noise, "All's not lost, do you know who the father is?" I asked quietly.

She nodded, "I'm pretty sure I know who it is…I've been seeing him every weekend for two months. I like him a lot, he's cute as hell," She laughed, "but I don't know if he'd make a good father."

"Have you ever really gotten to know him?" I asked.

"I guess not…"

"Then you should try." I said with an enthusiastic smile. Minako returned it, she was beginning to look a little better. She had stopped crying now and was starting to adjust her make up which had been smeared all over her face making her look like a raccoon. She stood in front of the mirror and smoothed out her hair, my reflection appeared next to her, my hands placed triumphantly on my hips.

"What?" She said as she looked at me in the mirror.

"This is where I blackmail you." I said, still grinning, "You treat me like a regular human being and I'll keep this on the down low."

She smiled and started to laugh, "Fine, but you have to stick with me through this so that means you have to deal with cravings, mood swings, the works."

"That's perfectly fine with me." I said.

"And I guess you can feel free to give me more brutal criticism," she chuckled, "I mean, I'm going to be a mother now and all," She paused for a moment and pretended to be concerned with finding her mascara in her purse, "I need you to help me out."


	4. Chapter 4

**- Usagi - Chapter four:**

I leaned against my tree enjoying my lunch for the first time in what seemed like ages. Haruka didn't stop by that day but I didn't care. I wasn't being harassed and I hadn't _been_ harassed for an entire week. After Minako confided in me about her pregnancy, things were running smoothly. I kept her secret and she left me alone, occasionally she would even stop and have a civil conversation or two with me. Mostly it was about her morning sickness and how she was worried about getting fat – even though she was probably only a few weeks pregnant. She looked fine to me.

"Hey Usagi!" A familiar voice greeted me. I looked up to see Rei on her way down to join me, "You look happy." She said.

"I am happy. I made a deal with Minako so now I'm free from her torment!" I declared joyously waving my hands in the air dramatically.

"What type of deal?" She asked as she peeked at my lunch snatching one of my baby carrots.

I shook my head, "I can't tell you. That would ruin it."

She shrugged and accepted it. I couldn't help but notice she too seemed happier than normal. I was about to ask her what was up but I was interrupted by an attractive kid with a shaggy head of red hair and pretty green eyes to go with it.

"Hey Rei…I was wondering…" He asked carefully, he appeared to be very nervous, "Would you like to go to a party tonight with me?" Rei blinked for a second, a little stunned by his request. He appeared to really like her, he was wringing his hands waiting for her answer but Rei just smiled sadly.

"Sorry, I already have someone." She said in her sweetest tone. The red headed kid dropped his hands to his side and looked away. Heartbroken and depressed he smiled out of courtesy and said goodbye. I looked over to Rei who was smiling uncontrollably, even blushing.

"Why didn't you go with him? You aren't with anyone." I tapped her on the arm scolding her. She looked over to me with a impish mask painted on her porcelain skin. She stood up and grabbed my hand and led me into the school.

"Where are we going?" I asked as she dragged me through the halls. I was beginning to see brightly colored paintings hanging on the walls indicating we were in the art wing. She stopped abruptly, causing me to bump into her back. She peeked through a closed door and gestured to me to look with her. There was a class of twenty or so kids all sitting at potting wheels or making long clay stings for coil pots. I tried to sort through them all trying to see who she was trying to show me.

"See him?" She whispered.

"See who?" I said moving my head around to get a better view.

"I can't believe you don't see him?! He's stunning." She then thrust her finger against the Plexiglas window leaving a finger print. It was the man I saw in the nurse's office when I brought Minako there.

"Who is that?" I asked. She looked at me as if insulted.

"He's only the hottest guy in the entire universe. His name is Taiki, he's the student teacher for the ceramics and sculpture classes."

"Oh, so that's who he is," I said moving away from the glass, "I saw him the other day talking to Ms. Meioh."

"Ms. Meioh?" She repeated.

"Yeah the new nurse. She's a really pretty lady," I said not thinking, "Oh! That must be where that lovely vase came from. Taiki must have made it for her, that's so sweet!"

The light I had seen in Rei's face earlier became very dim suddenly. She looked back in at Taiki, her eyes morphed into a pained gaze she shook her head. "You don't think that they're together do you? I mean she's not that pretty, in fact she's kind of ugly," her voice became a little louder and angrier, "and fat! And she's probably not even a real nurse. She's never made _me_ feel better. What a bitch!"

"Rei, Rei, calm down! I didn't say they were dating, they probably aren't! They could just be friends. I mean I didn't see them kissing or anything!" I tried to reason with her, a little disturbed by her out burst. I had never seen her act this way.

"Maybe…" She started to calm down.

"Have you even been in a class with this guy to know anything about him?" I asked. She shook her head, "I plan to take a class with him second semester so we can get to know each other."

"You do know that a relationship with him would be dangerous to his job…Right?" I warned her. The way she said "get to know each other" it sounded as if she was actually planning on taking her crush to the next level. I suppose that's what she was thinking when she told that boy that she was already with someone.

"Yeah, I know." She was still casually gazing at him through the window, "I plan to have him fall in love with me in class and we'll keep our relationship on the down low until I graduate. Just so his job is safe and he can support me."

To say Rei's thinking was unhealthy was an understatement. She was fantasizing of falling in love with a man who was probably almost ten years older than her, stealing him from his current girlfriend and living happily ever after with him. And on top of all this he was a teacher. This was dangerous territory Rei was waking on.

"Oh damn it. I'm going to be late for economics!" Rei looked at her watch, "I'll see you later, Usagi."

"Rei, I think you need to think things out about Taiki…" I said trying to call her back so maybe she could see things clearly, but I don't think "thinking things out" was on her agenda that day. Or ever.

"Oh don't worry, things will work themselves out!" She said with a smile as she continued on to her class. I watched the kids in the ceramics room begin to pack their bags up and move too the door. Realizing that the period had ended, I quickly sprinted back outside to pick up my book bag. I picked it up by the strap but it unhooked itself and fell to the ground spilling my books and papers on the grass. As I bent down to pick them up I heard two people talking.

"Hey are you going to Harumi Chitose's party?" Someone's voice asked from behind me.

"Hell yeah! Minako and I have a beer pong rematch!" A girl responded with a laugh. I quickly stood up and looked the girl in the face.

"Minako's going to that party?" I asked.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" The girl said in a snotty tone, her hand placed on her hip. I just looked at her thinking of Minako and went on my way.This was crazy, Minako promised she'd shape up for her baby and now here she was just a week later going out to play drinking games. She must have been out of her mind or completely stupid. Had she know idea that she could ruin her kid's life by drinking? It didn't surprise me since I realized that when she was smoking in the back of the school she knew she was pregnant. I had to stop her.

During the last few minutes of school, I skipped out on my last class and went to the main office to look at the student directory. It was required for everyone who attended school to write their phone numbers and addresses for public use so students could get a hold of each other for projects. I quickly found my finger tracing over Harumi Chitose's name and address. Minako wasn't in her right mind, she couldn't have been, and I was going to bring her back before she did any more harm to herself.

-

I was feeling apprehensive about my plan to take Minako home. First of all I'd have to go to the house of a girl that hated me almost as much as Minako did. Secondly, half to almost ALL of the people there would probably be drunk and I had never seen a drunk person before. I grew up in a pretty conservative family. No boyfriends, no parties, no drinking or smoking, no swearing, even movies that were rated R were prohibited. These were probably the reasons why I was an outcast at school. I never had the opportunity to do what everyone else was doing because of my parents' fear of having me exposed to real life situations.

The red numbers on my digital clock read eight o'clock. I slipped on my outing clothes which were composed of a black form fitting long sleeve shirt and a red skirt that went down to my knees. I had once bought a pair of black high heels without my mother noticing and decided I could only look the part of a party girl by wearing them. I looked in the mirror at myself; I looked nice, but not hot. More like I was going to church. I shrugged, it was the best I could do. I grabbed my purse, which did not match my shoes, and went down stairs.

My mother stuck her head out from the kitchen, her wavy lavender hair was pulled back in a tight bun for cleaning, "Usagi, where are you going dressed like that?!"

I slowly looked over my shoulder trying to muster up some excuse, "Uh… I am. Going to…Go. To a musical with Haruka?" I said slowly, knowing she probably wouldn't buy it.

"What musical? It better not be anything inappropriate…" She warned me. I always wondered what her definition of "inappropriate" was. I mean how terrible could a musical be?

"It's…it's…uh…Cats?" I said coming up with a random name. I had never seen a real musical before and the only one I had heard of being advertised in the area was Cats. Honestly the concept of dramatic singing cats sounded kind of silly to me.

I waited through a pause from my mother who was probably trying to give Cats a rating. "Ok. Have a fun time…" She called as she went back into the kitchen. With a sigh of relief I ran out the door and sprinted down the sidewalk in my heels. After nearly spraining my ankle three times, I slowed to a walk. By now my mother would think that I got in Haruka's car and drove off to the show. While I walked I pulled out a piece of paper that I jotted down the directions to Harumi's house.

I stopped at a street sign and noticed it was significantly darker than I predicted and it had gotten scarier almost eerie. I've never gotten along well with the dark, night time always was the worst part of the day for me. I always felt skittish and overly sensitive to sounds. Often I'd be so paranoid that my eyes would play tricks on me. I screamed suddenly a hand grabbed me on the shoulder tightly. I jerked away and ran forward a few feet covering my eyes with my hands.

I peeked through my fingers to see dark eyes peering at me through the night. I was seconds away from chucking my purse at the entity until I heard a voice say, "Oh…_Odango_…What are you doing out so late? Are you looking for someone to give you your next paycheck? Or perhaps you were looking for me?"

It was Seiya, what he was doing on the same exact street as me, I didn't know. I felt a little angry that I was happy to see him. "What did you call me?"

"Just a little pet name for you," He laughed, "It's a reference to that awful hair style."

"You're a jack ass." I screamed as I swiftly walked away.

"You can't get away with calling me that!" He said playfully as he ran after me.

"Well I just did."

"You know, girls all over the world worship me! It baffles me why you're the only girl that doesn't."

I stopped suddenly and turned around. I couldn't help but want to laugh at him, "I'm the only girl that doesn't?" I said with fake horror, "Oh wow…that would make sense why I had a locker stuffed with condoms the other day and maybe that's the reason why I've been the focus of every living being's hate for all these years!" I clutched my purse up to my chest, "Oh Seiya you've opened my eyes. Take me now!"

"I've had people tell me that seriously." He commented amused by my little act, "And believe me I wouldn't touch anything on that nasty, gangly body of yours."

I brushed his comment off. He was trying to get to me but I just didn't feel like caring. I lifted my hands up and shrugged, "Then you sir, have too much pride." And with that I turned on my heel and walked away ignoring whatever comments he was following after me with.

-

I arrived a little later than expected thanks to Seiya who, it turns out, was headed to the same party. I can't even begin to explain how uncomfortable it was to have him walking in the same direction only a few feet behind me. I clutched my purse close to me as I walked into Harumi's house. I could feel him close behind me as I was hit with a wall of noise upon entering. Seiya pushed ahead of me and screamed something to guy who answered the door, I couldn't hear what either of them were saying I only saw Seiya gesture to me. The kid made a face at me but waved me through anyways. Everyone else was screaming at each other in casual conversations that I saw as I walked through Harumi's elaborate foyer. Again, I couldn't hear what anyone actually said - though I'm sure they didn't have anything to say anyways. They were all too drunk to form sentences.

I watched Seiya disappear into the crowd as I pushed through various scantily clad girls rubbing up against men with beer spilled on their shirts. They all had expressions on their faces that looked like they smelled something bad as they fell all over their dance partners, if you could call it dancing. I couldn't help but gag as I watched their fat giggle out of their hot pants and mini skirts when they did their little dance against their "man". I looked around the corner to see a few people smoking something foreign to me; they passed it around pushing the smoke further into the air. After one whiff I suddenly started coughing as I inhaled something that smelled very similar to a dead skunk.

I pulled a girl aside and asked her if she'd seen Minako anywhere. She just looked at me like I was the most revolting person on the planet. I found the humor in it because _she_ smelled like vomit. The vomit smelling girl pointed me in the direction of a room at the end of the house – which was fairly large. Harumi must have had very wealthy parents from the looks of everything. I walked into a room that was so low lit I almost crashed into some guy with a tin foil ball in his hand. In front of him was a triangle of red plastic cups laid out on the table. He passed it to a dark figure in the corner which then threw the ball at the cups missing them all by about a foot. I then heard Minako's voice scream, "Fuck! I never win!" with a whine. She laughed and then picked up one of the cups inches away from injuring her unborn child.

Before she was able to put it to her lips I threw my hand out and screamed, "Minako! Don't do it!" She quickly stood up from her chair, the look of horror plastered on her not so sober face. She was dressed in her night life clothes, a very sexy outfit of what looked like a white see-through tank top and a black mini skirt with sparkles on it. Everyone stopped what they were doing, turned to me and proceeded to call me a dyke and flip me the bird, protesting my presence.

"Why should she do what a dyke wad like you tells her?" One skanky girl asked as she pushed me against a wall. I felt the corner of a picture frame jab into my back. I paused looking Minako in the eyes. Her face silently pleading for me not to tell them about her secret, she knew why I was there but she didn't want to back me up. She didn't want to protect me from her friends that I was protecting _her_ from. I should have told them right then. But I couldn't do it.

"Whatever, I don't care what you have to say. Why the hell are you here anyways? I know I didn't invite you." The girl that pushed me up against the wall must have been Harumi. I was in trouble.

"I...I…" I stuttered trying to think of a reason why, something they expected to hear, something they _wanted_ to hear, an easy, pathetic, reason to hate me. "I thought if I came to this party you guys would like me." There. Now I sounded like the self-conscious little nerd they wanted me to be.

Harumi and her friends all burst out into a roar of laughter and started to push me out of the room, "Oh God, Usagi. No one will ever like you, don't even try!" She signaled to a couple of large guys in her living room over to me, "Usagi asked to be our entertainment for the night! Let's see her swan dive!"

Suddenly I felt hands grabbing me, bruising me all over and escorting me by force to the patio behind her house where a large blue light radiated from the ground. A crowd of laughing drunken teenagers had formed around me patting me on the butt and spitting at me. I tried to twist out of their grasps but they grabbed at my clothes and hair instead, ripping one of my sleeves and tearing a portion of my skirt. Suddenly the blue light got bigger and brighter, I suddenly realized it was an in ground pool. Before I could fight it, I felt a cold wave come over me. And as if in slow motion, I was sinking to the bottom. I opened my eyes under the water to see a cold blurry world of blue illuminated water, a place I preferred to be rather than with them. Down there I couldn't hear them hooting at me, I couldn't see them cheering each other on. And for a minute, my life was simple. Painless.

When my lungs began to ache I came to the surface, struggling to swim to the side in my wet skirt. I held onto the concrete patio and wiped away the chlorine that stung my eyes. I pushed myself up and over the side, it was then with a cold burst of air I found that my entire thigh was exposed and my bra was showing from the rips in my shirt. I didn't want to cry but I certainly felt like it. A hot hard knot was stuck in my throat making me wheeze. _I won't cry, I won't cry_! I chanted to myself but before I could repress them, the tears trickled down my face. Luckily I was too soaked for anyone to tell, not that it mattered how I felt anyways. The crowd, for the most part, had gone back inside except for a few that had turned me into a conversation piece and decided to stick around to chat.

On cold shaking legs I walked over to the side of the pool where my purse was riding the ripples in the pool, bumping up against the tiled edges. I picked it up and emptied almost a liter of water from it. The purse and everything inside it was ruined; my make up, my cell phone, everything. I felt a breeze behind me that wasn't from the wind but from someone's movement. I sighed, I knew who it was.

"Rough night on the street corner?" Seiya's sarcastic voice erupted from behind me in its velvety smooth tone. He laughed as he waved a hand over my bare leg as if to touch it but I quickly smacked it away. I dropped my purse to the ground with a sigh, it was useless now, there was no use in keeping any of it. He laughed again and I turned to him, my face raw with my pain and humiliation staring at his ever smiling face.

"So, did you turn to this when I turned you down? I know all you ugly girls will give it up to anyone when you realize that you're desperate." He said with a cocky laugh, "You think it'll make people like you more." He continued talking but my hearing was fading in and out from all of the rage and hate I felt. I was so sick of everything he said, I was sick of his voice and his attitude. I was sick of him. When did God decide my life could be molded by these people? When did I gain or lose a "status" that was never officially assigned to me? Why did I let this happen to myself? As much as I wanted to blame this on everyone else, I was the one who had faith that Minako would get better. I was the one who thought I could fix things, change people. I was a fool.

Before I knew what I was doing, I felt the back of my hand slam into something soft and warm. I looked up to see Seiya wincing in pain as I took my hand away from that gorgeous face. That stupid gorgeous face. "Shut up!" I screamed, "Don't you dare judge me for anything I do when you don't know who I am, you don't know what I stand for! And don't you _dare_ think for one minute you can tell me who I am!" The tears were now dripping from my face. Seiya stumbled back a few steps, his eyes wide. That cocky jerk looked absolutely astounded that someone could actually hate him as much as I did.

"You're a sick person, Seiya - someone who is poisoned by himself! And I want you to ask yourself something. You have _all _this pride, but what do you actually have to be proud of? Because I know it can't be your quality of character." I watched his expression stay motionless, his eyes still wide and his hand placed delicately on his cheek, "Have you ever once in your life felt love or compassion for anyone other than yourself?" His face was now bright red where I had backhanded him, his eyes confused and afraid of me: the crazy girl that hit him. After staring at him like that for few minutes I realized I was waiting my time. People couldn't be changed.

"I shouldn't even waste my time here…" I shivered as I peeled my wet hair off of my chest and threw it behind me. On my high heels, I wobbled through Harumi's rock garden along the side of her house, every so often falling down on the sharp stones. I was more comfortable dealing with that than having to walk through the house again. Suddenly in front of me I saw Minako clopping in her stilettos on the sidewalk.

"Usagi!" She said sorrowfully as she came to lend me her hand so I might have better success with the rocks but I waved it away. I didn't want to have anything to do with her anymore, my charity had been abused and honestly she didn't deserve it anymore. I folded my arms over my chest and wearily walked the way I had come, my body trembling with the cold. I was worried as I walked that the police might see me and bring me home. Having my parents see me the way I was was probably the worse thing that could happen.

"Usagi, wait." Minako called to me again, this time her voice held an element of life in it. It was her real voice, not the one she used to tease me or flirt with guys. This was her silver lining. I stopped with my arms still draped around my waist, I was too cold to turn around. I knew the breeze going up my skirt would probably make it worse.

"I'm sorry…" She called again, she remained behind me probably out of her own shame, "I know why you came to the party. And you were right to drag me away. To be honest though, I didn't think you'd do it."

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked turning around, I was right about my skirt theory and began shivering worse than I was. Lucky for me she was carrying a towel she had snuck from the house. She smiled and handed it to me.

"I guess I thought you were just trying to weasel away from the way I used to treat you. Which you had every right to! I… I just didn't think you were going to honestly care about me. So I didn't think I should have cared about myself," her face became a little more thoughtful as she placed a hand over her stomach, "Though it's really not about me anymore, is it..."

I smiled a little as I toweled off my hair, "I would never let anyone do that to themselves, regardless of how terrible they've treated me." I thought for a moment about how Seiya had struck my last nerve and I was almost certain he'd be the exception. As far as I was concerned, he could get hit by a truck, or be burned alive and I wouldn't shed a tear. It would be a waste of good sadness.

"Let me walk you home." She said with an honest smile.

"What about the party?" I asked.

She frowned and shook her head, "I don't think I need those people anymore."

-

The next morning the doorbell rang unexpectedly by what appeared to be a purse without an owner, sitting alone on my doorstep. I picked it up and examined it; it was pink with a little white rabbit made out of white suede stitched onto the side. I flipped it over to see a piece of paper taped on to it reading:

**For Usagi**

I unzipped the top; the inside appeared to be made of some expensive material that I was too modest to name. My hand surfed around on the silky lining until it suddenly hit something. I pulled out the object. It was a new phone – and a fancy one at that! It had all the bells and whistles, a camera, an mp3 player, it even had video on it too.

Feeling rather guilty for receiving such an expensive gift I ran out to the street and looked around for whoever had left it. Perhaps it was some compassionate rich kid who saw me get thrown into the pool and felt he needed to make it right? I looked to the left and the right only to see vacant streets and sidewalks. I glanced back down at the bag, it made me smile, the bunny – while not the trendiest thing to own, was cute and very much something I would have bought for myself. This person must have had a skill to read people they didn't even know, because I was sure I had never met such a sweet person in my life. I gave an appreciative smile and silently thanked the compassionate saint who left it and returned back into the house.


	5. Chapter 5

_Thought it would be nice to break it up with a little story from Haruka. I'm going to go back through and revise this when I have some time a little later. _

* * *

**- Haruka – Chapter five:**

**M**y mother closed the door behind her as she left my room, checking on me for the hundredth time this week. She was worried about me and wanted answers I wasn't ready to give and I wasn't ready to give those answers because I was ashamed of what they were. On my walls where there should have been posters of musicians and sweaty topless surfers; I had race cars with Anna Kournikova bending over the hoods proudly displaying her ass. Something must have been wrong with me, I wasn't just a tomboy. Every time I saw Michiru at school I remember how infatuated with her I was and at first I thought I just admired her personality, but it wasn't until I talked to her that I knew it was something much more. I was obsessing over her. Replaying the way she waved at me when Usagi introduced us. The way her eyes looked at me, the way her hair looked in the sun and there was only one explanation why I focused on these things. I was a lesbian. A giant flaming lesbian. And it was wrong, something twisted and terribly, terribly wrong. After accepting it everything suddenly became so clear. Cars, my short hair, my boyish style and mannerisms, everything short of being a lumberjack, it all must have had something to do with me being a lesbian the entire time.

I rolled onto my side focusing on the wall blurring my hands that were resting in front of my face. I told myself I would give myself a few days to get over it and return to normal. I wouldn't tell anyone; not my parents, not my friends, no one. Then I heard my bedroom door creak open once again. This time it wasn't my mother.

"Haruka…You're mom told me it was okay to come up here." Usagi said as she gently closed the door behind her. I remained motionless on my bed as I quickly tried to organize something to tell her.

"Are you sick?" She asked as she came and sat beside me on the bed, "You haven't met me at school in days. I was getting worried."

"No I'm not sick. Just a little down that's all," I explained, "I'm feeling better though. No worries." I quickly finished after.

"_A little down?_" She grabbed hold of my shoulder and pulled to over to look at her, "People who are a _little down_ don't lock themselves away in their rooms for a week. What's really going on?"

I refused to answer. I didn't know how to tell her what was wrong when, I, myself wasn't even sure if I was right about my own diagnosis. If I was love sick because I found Michiru pretty, was I in love with Usagi since I found her pretty too? This would be too awkward to talk to her about so I tried to change the subject.

"Nice purse, is that new?"

"Uh, yeah. Someone dropped it at my house with a new phone in it. So what's wrong?"

"What happened to your old one?"

"I dropped it in a pool. Are you avoiding this conversation?" She asked with her eye brows furrowed up.

"I guess I am." I sighed.

"Why? Do you not trust me with whatever it is that's bothering you?" She appeared to look offended now, with good reason too. We never held secrets back from each other ever. I knew she had to sleep with the hall light on at night and she knew that I took ballet for five years – something I wasn't proud of. The doors for secrets were open we had ammunition to protect ourselves if the other one told so there was no reason why I'd hide this new secret.

"It's Michiru." I said.

"Michiru? Did she do something wrong to you? I can't imagine she did anything too terrible."

"No, it's nothing like that," I took a deep breath, "I think I want to date her."

Usagi was very still for a moment. Her hands were placed daintily on her lap and her face frozen in the same expression it was a second before I told her. I began to move away from her regretting my confession. I was almost certain, by the look on her face, that this would be the end of our relationship. I tried to scramble up a way to play what I said off as a joke but before I could say anything I heard her squeal excitedly.

She grabbed my hand and looked up at me with wide, gooey eyes. "You're in love with Michiru?! That is so sweet!"

"You do realize this makes me a lesbian, right?" I asked her, it felt a little strange calling myself a lesbian.

"So what? There's nothing wrong with that."

"_Nothing wrong with it?_ My life has gotten so much more complicated I can't even begin to tell you."

"Oh, I'm sure it has," she said sarcastically, "you haven't even left the house since you came to this realization and I'm guessing you haven't told anyone. How can you turn this down as bad if you haven't even fully lived your life to see a difference?"

"I don't need to go out and see a difference. The odds are against me! If I were a guy Michiru would be fair game, I'd just go up and ask her out. InsteadI have to decide if it's safe to do even that. If she's not a lesbian she'll get wierded out never talk to me again and I'll have to hang around in gay bars for the rest of eternity." I took a breath, "And then there are my parents and what they'll think when I don't have a husband and they don't have any grandchildren they'll disown be once they find out the truth!"

She chuckled, "Haruka, as I recall you didn't want to have kids in the first place, and your parents are really nice people and they love you. For God's sake your mom offered me cookies on my way up here! There is no way she'd just disown you like that."

"You're probably right – but you have to agree that Michiru won't want anything to do with me."

"Well not just yet. You can't say that if you haven't even tried yet. As far as I know she has no boyfriend – or girlfriend."

"How do you know?" I asked skeptically, there was no way such a girl like her could be single.

"Having people ignore me has its advantages. People forget I'm around so I hear everything. Ask her out."

I shook my head, "I can't."

"Sure you can! I'll have her meet me at lunch to talk about something, I won't show up and you can _accidentally _bump into her there and ask her out."

"What if she says no?"

"If she says no then you don't have to see her ever again."

She was right. I had the room to take chances. If it didn't work out it didn't matter, I didn't go to that school anymore. I wouldn't have to deal with the stigma high school attached to being a lesbian if Michiru blabbed about me. So if things went sour I just wouldn't come back to that school. No matter how safe the plan was I still couldn't help feeling nervous and unsure about it all.

"I don't even know if this is love." I sighed placing my head into my hands.

"What do you mean you don't know?" She asked me.

"I like Michiru, I think she's pretty but does that mean I love her? I mean I've always thought you were pretty and I enjoy hanging out with you. Does that mean I love you?"

Usagi smiled and placed a finger on her chin, "Well let's see. I won't waste my first kiss on an experiment so let's settle for a hug." She then grabbed me around the waist and gave me a big hug. "What do you feel?" She asked me. I sat there feeling her soft warm body press against mine and while it felt nice, I don't think there were sparks or anything. Thinking of hugging Michiru gave me chills. It was a completely different feeling.

"It feels like I'm hugging my best friend." I said with laugh.

She pulled away still smiling. "See, love and friendship aren't gender based – just because I'm a girl doesn't mean you're attracted to me. Its like me being friends with a boy, just be cause he's a guy doesn't mean I love him."

"You're right." I agreed.

"So you'll ask her out?"

"Yeah, I'll ask her out."

-

It was lunch time and my head hung heavily over the chain link fence occasionally I would press my neck into the bar feeling the blood rush in and out of my head. It was a good distraction from the knot that had made a home in my stomach. Usagi wasn't there was the plan went, I just wasn't sure if she could get Michiru to come alone. I heard she ran with a click and the last thing I needed were a bunch of snobby girls laughing at me while she turned me down. I heard a twig crack in front of me, Michiru stood by the tree looking confused.

She looked over to me, "Have you seen Usagi? She told me she needed to borrow something from me but I've looked everywhere and she's not here."

"I've been waiting for her too. I wonder where she is, maybe she's in the bathroom or something?" I played dumb hoping she wouldn't notice it was all an act, "Michiru. Right?"

She smiled awkwardly, "And you're Haruka."

"I was just checking to see if I could remember your name. I'm not very good with putting names on faces but yours definitely stands out to me."

"Thank you." She said with a shade of pink forming on her cheeks, she tried to hide it by placing a delicately curled hand over her mouth. This was turning out better than I thought, I was clearly hitting on her but she didn't seem to be disgusted or upset. In fact it looked like she was flattered if anything.

"Are you doing anything after school?" I asked as casually as possible though I'm sure she could tell how nervous I was.

"No, not really."

"Would you like to go get dinner with me?"

She paused for a moment. I was beginning to fear that maybe I was wrong about the signals I was getting from her. Maybe she was just being polite and I was really just making an ass of myself. I held up my hand and began to wave it aside taking back my offer but then one word pierced through all my thoughts.

"Yes."

"Really?" I replied in shock.

"Sure. I have after school activities that I'm doing so I'll meet you out here at five is that ok?"

"Yeah that's perfectly fine!" I then said goodbye and waltzed home the happiest I had been all week.

-

I dropped a blob of water onto my straw wrapper and watched it expand on the table. Michiru and I had ended up at a small café, not the most romantic place but nice none the less. We had been sitting in silence for almost five minutes while I struggled to make light conversation.

"I've never been here before." Michiru said, breaking the silence as she traced a pale finger around the rim of her water glass.

"Does it bother you?" I asked her, she shook her head and laughed.

"It's quiet and secluded here. Even though it's not as fancy as some restaurants, I do find it a little romantic, don't you think?" She mused looking up at me with sapphire eyes of a cat. If I didn't know better I would have described them as down right sexual. Feeling a little uncomfortable I quickly changed the subject.

"So, do you have any hobbies?" I asked.

She sat up and smiled draping her napkin over her lap, "I enjoy music and art. I paint in my free time but my real forte is the violin, pardon my pun."

I suddenly remembered watching her darting in and out of the music room with various instruments during her free periods, "Oh, that's right! You were part of the school's orchestra."

"You used to go to my school?"

"Yeah, I was a grade higher than you though. I remember seeing you a lot though, my metalworking class was just down the hall from you.

She frowned, "Really? I'm sad I never noticed you. To be honest I feel very drawn to you."

I felt the blush rise up in my face. I never imagined she was such a forward girl, she looked too prim and proper to know how to toy with someone the way she was. However award it made me feel, I found comfort knowing she felt the same about women. Usagi was right.  
"How about you," She asked, "What are your hobbies?"

I cleared my voice hoping it wouldn't give me away, "Car. I like racing and motor vehicles a-and cars. Oh, I said that twice didn't I, sorry. I don't expect you to be interested in those silly things though."

She shook her head, "I may not look like the time to enjoy them but I wouldn't mind learning about them. Cars are art just like anything else. I can relate to them more than you'd think."

"I don't know. Cars look cool but I wouldn't go so far as to call them art."

"Oh no, no. Cars were created by someone, those lines and curves though aerodynamic are also an extension of the designers mind. They are masses of lines and curves elegantly entwined together, creating a new structure – I suppose the artist who creates them can be seen as a very sexual being. Those who work with cars must also have this attribute…"

She was doing it again, looking at me with those eyes of hers playing delicately with her water glass spinning it in her hands. I laughed nervously, "I don't know about that, I don't think my sexual energy has anything to do with how well my car runs."

"How do you make it run well then?"

"That's a secret." I stated with a wink. She looked at me for a long time as if studying me, trying to read my mind or my actions. Evaluating me.

"Do you have many secrets?" She asked out of the blue. The question took me by surprise. I didn't know what she wanted to hear, it sounded like she was trying to get at something. Either that or she was playing with me, trying to figure out how I worked. But I guess this is what she did best. She _was_ a musician.

"I think we all have secrets, do you think I have one?" I asked.

She paused as if to say something but she suddenly looked up to see the waiter looming above us. She shook her head, "Of coarse not."

The dinner had proceeded with a nice dessert and then it was over. We had talked about all sorts of things and I came to the conclusion that Michiru was my dream girl. She was beautiful, smart, artistic, and very, very seductive. And on top of all this she was perfectly comfortable with the relationship we would have.

It being the nice thing to do, I had decided to drive her home. It was late; we had stuck around and talked for so long we pushed the restaurant's closing time. All while in the car I could feel her eyes on me still looking me over like earlier. I pretended to focus intently on the road, pretending not to see her. I didn't know what she wanted nor was I sure I knew how to do what she wanted.

"Over there." She said pointing out a house with its porch light still on, waiting for her arrival. I pulled over to the curb so she could get out. She put her hand on the door but looked over to me. She placed a hand on my cheek and stroked it softly before leaning in and giving me a warm passionate kiss. It was only a few seconds but it seemed to last forever. I could feel the warmth of her skin on my face and those soft fluttery eye lashes against my face. She pulled back and smiled at me and I, feeling absolutely exhilarated, returned it.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help it…" She said looking down bashfully, "I just have never met a man like you before."

I felt my heart stop. She thought I was a man the entire time. I started to panic. I quickly said something that sounded like a goodbye and I shoed her out the door and sped off. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw her darkening form stand silently alone on the curb. What was I going to do? We just hit it off and she thought I was a guy. The relationship was over before it had even begun.

I tried to sleep that night but I felt too awful. I went to bed past midnight and found myself up at six. I stood in my steam filled bathroom, I thought a shower would make me feel better but looking at myself in the mirror made me feel worse than I already did. I toweled dried my hair and stared deep into my own eyes, they were so feminine, pretty even. When not wearing anything I looked sporty and sexy but not in the way I thought of myself. In my head I was a guy, I was rugged and rough I didn't want to be protected I wanted to fight. But while my mind said all these things, my skinny limbs a curvy waist said otherwise. I was a mess.

I wrapped a towel around myself and walked barefoot into my room. I swung my closet doors open and dug through my clothes going to the very back of my closet to pull out a simple blue dress. I held it out in front of me and looked at it for a long time, my mother had bought it for me for my last birthday, she told me the color would make my eyes pretty. She had also bought me a pair of white high heels and a bracelet to go along with it. I wasn't sure why she bought it for me, I had never worn dresses before, I guessed it was just wishful thinking. She gave birth to a girl and got a boy instead. I slipped the dress over my head, it fit perfectly. I looked like a girl, I had cleavage and curves and long legs to go with it. "Today I will be a girl." I thought.

I walked into the kitchen where my mother was making breakfast, she turned around and her eyes nearly fell right out of her head. She started squealing something that I couldn't understand and hugged me.

"Oh Haruka, you look so pretty!" She smiled as she handed me my breakfast. I just blushed and sat down feeling strange. I felt like a man in a dress, it just didn't feel right but it did make my mother happy. She filled her own plate and sat down in front of me with a strange grin on her face.

"How about you and I go shopping today?" She suggested almost blinding me with the motherly light in her eyes. I wanted to say no but maybe this is what should have been happening while I was dirtying my hands with grease and radiator fluid.

I looked down at my plate and smiled, "Sure." I said. She had been waiting almost nineteen years for this day, I decided it was right for her to have it, I felt guilty enough denying her a daughter.

-

I wobbled down the street in my high heels with my mother, who was equally as dressed up as I was, at my side. I carried most of the bags on one of my arms while my mother latched on to my other petting my hand and talking as we walked passed several stores we had visited. I heard the bells for the school ringing signaling the day was over, I was ready for my day to be over too. Being a girl for a day was a little fun, only from the stand point I was able to talk and spend the day with my mother, I hadn't done it since I was little. But other than that I was tired and my feet ached from the incline they were at all day long.

I heard some panicked talking from down the street. At first it sounded like a conversation but it quickly became a full out argument and the voice that was arguing was a familiar one. I looked behind me, Michiru was pressed up against a concrete wall clutching her violin case to her chest while one of her classmates pinned her with his arm. My mother pulled me into another store not even noticing the two down the street. She picked up a pair of earrings and dangled them in front of me, "Oh these would look so nice on you." She said.

"Mom, I'll be right back, okay?" I said quickly as I bolted from the store. I ran down the street tripping over the heels on my shoes just inches away from breaking a leg. I ripped them from my feet and sprinted to Michiru who hands were now being pressed against the wall. I threw one of my shoes to divert her attacker's attention he swiveled around at me and began to laugh.

"Get the hell away from her!" I screamed at but he just continued to laugh.

"What are you gonna' do?" He asked in a cocky tone. With no answer I slammed my fist deep into his face. He fell to the ground swearing and holding his jaw. Judging by the pain in my hand I had probably loosened a few of his teeth. He jumped up and tried to take a swing at me but I kicked him in the side sending him back to the ground. I grabbed hold of Michiru's arm and swiftly walked her back the way I came.

"Are you okay?" I asked her. She pulled her arm away from me and looked at me funny.

"Haruka, why are you dressed like this?" She asked as if she hadn't just been attacked a few seconds ago.

"I'm a girl. I thought you knew I was the entire time last night so I didn't say anything. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."

"I knew you were a girl. I thought you were trying to keep it a secret." She said hugging her case against her again.

"You did?"

"Of course – Why are you dressed like this?" She asked again.

I looked down at myself. Wearing that stupid blue dress trying to hide who I was. I could dress myself up like a doll but I'd still punch someone out and I'd still run barefoot through the streets, "I…I don't know. I guess I thought that I should be a girl."

"_Should be a girl_? I like you for who you are, I saw you as a girl and that's why I went out with you."

I looked down at my bare feet, one of my white shoes in my hands, "Why did you call me a man then?"

"I thought you were trying to hide it from me. I didn't really care if you were trying to trick me. I had a great time with you. I figured there would be no harm in playing along."

"You played along."

"It's what I do. When I hear a note I match it." She said with a smile, I returned it but said nothing. I didn't know what to say, what to think. No matter what I wore, no matter what I thought, I was still a person torn in two. My mind and body took shots at each other dueling for my spirit. I looked up to see Michiru still smiling, staring at me. Just me. She didn't know what I was thinking, she barely knew who I was but it seemed she could see my inner conflict and she liked it. She took hold of my hand and drew me into a hug. It was honest and pure and, as cheesy as it sounds, all my troubles went away. Being held by her felt better than a thousand Usagi hugs, it felt right.

"So, would you like to go out again?" She asked pulling away.

I looked over to the store my mother was in, I felt bad just leaving her there. With new energy I felt it was a safe time to do what needed to be done. "Sure," I said, "But you need to meet someone first."


	6. Chapter 6

**- Usagi - Chapter 6:  
**

**T**he bell signaling the end of the last class echoed through the courtyard when I stumbled upon Minako. She sat on the grass noisily crunching on a salad that she had brought from home in a plastic Tupperware container. I normally would have deemed a salad light but hers was loaded with everything imaginable. It was probably very normal, after all she was pregnant. It bothered me though. How long did she expect to hide it from the world when the space in her shirt was beginning to disappear? She suddenly stopped eating and looked at me.

"What?" She asked still holding her fork in the air. It was now obvious to me that I had been shamelessly staring at her stomach.

"When are you going to tell your parents about _it_?" I said as I sat down next to her.

"I hadn't thought of it really." She looked away and patted around her stomach gauging how big she'd gotten, "Why? You don't think I'm getting fat, do you?"

"It does look like you're starting to get a bump there. It's hardly noticeable though!" I tried to be as polite about it as much as possible, telling any girl she's gaining weight is a bad idea and it's especially bad if she's hormonal.

Minako frowned and sighed as she looked down at her ever growing belly, "No, you're right. I'm getting bigger. I'd have to be retarded to think I can hide this any longer."

"So you're going to tell your parents?"

"Eventually, but right now there are in Bermuda for a second honeymoon thing, they probably wont be home for another two weeks."

"Why not tell them over the phone then, in two weeks you'll be showing even more and it might be hard to explain why you didn't tell them sooner."

"It'll probably be easier to break over the phone anyways. My mom is going to flip a shit, I just now it." She commented picking her salad back up again. I looked down at my watch and noted the time. I stood up and dusted any stray pieces of grass that might have been stuck to my butt.

"Where are you going?"

"Mr. Chiba asked me to stay after school today. It's probably about my grades; I don't think one study session a week is enough for me." I quickly then bid her farewell and bolted to the Chemistry room before I was officially late for the extended periods. As I ran I noticed an unwelcome stick sneaking its way underneath my foot. I quickly corrected my step but found my self slamming hard into someone's shoulder. I fell backwards, firmly on my butt. I rubbed it hoping I didn't have a bruise but I was probably wrong. I cursed as I saw Seiya' silhouette above me. Was there no end of him? It seemed that only fate would decide when he'd leave me alone.

"Watch where you're going…" I hissed as I rubbed my backside. He extended a hand down to me that I hesitated to take but I grabbed hold of him anyways. I dusted off my navy blue skirt as he pulled me to my feet. Caught off guard by his act of kindness, I decided it must have been another one of his Mr. Nice Guy acts and went on the defensive.

"What? No nasty remarks today?" I asked him folding my arms across my chest.

"Not in the mood." He muttered as he began to walk away. Feeling guilty for being such jerk I ran up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Is there something wrong? Are you sick?" I asked trying to apologize with concern for being so abrasive. He didn't appear to want any of it though.

"Nothing is wrong." He stated making sure not to make eye contact with me. I studied the side of his face. He looked like hell, he had bags under his eyes his long black pony tail was frizzy and tangled as if he hadn't brushed it in days.

"How can nothing be wrong when you look like you've been hit by a truck?"

He swiftly turned to me glaring harshly with weary, tired, eyes, "What do you want from me? Do you want an apology? Okay – I'm sorry. Please, leave me alone now."

"I didn't want anything from you, I just want to know if you're okay."

"I don't understand you. On one hand you play the victim but you're so quick to tear a person down to their foundation."

"Oh you're being over dramatic!" I scolded placing my hands on my hips, "This is about what I said to you at that party. Well I don't take any of it back. Being scolded only one time in your life shouldn't make you give up living!"

He shook his head at me, "There is a difference between scolding and being cruel."

I placed my hand up between us, "I don't have time for this." I then stormed off. Though I was the one walking away as if I didn't care I was also peering behind myself in my head. I could feel his eyes on my back and I felt guilty. I worried that maybe I was too cruel at that party. From what it sounded like he was actually starting an honest conversation, he wanted something from me. Most likely and apology but I wouldn't give it to him I had to stand firm on my beliefs. I bit my bottom lip as I approached my tree. Maybe after being pushed around for so many years I was becoming bitter and turning into the people that made me that way?

-

I sat down at my desk and looked around at my empty chemistry room, I hadn't noticed it before but I was surrounded in taxidermy. Dead squirrels, birds, and raccoons stretched as far as the eye could see, or at least to Mr. Chiba's desk. Their little beady eyes stared me down as I waited for him to return. I saw on his desk a fat little black bird that looked rather cute. I guessed that he not only taught chemistry but biology as well. What other reason would he have for collecting dead things?

"What bird is that?" I asked Mr. Chiba as he walked into the room balancing his book bag on one arm and a stack of papers and books on the other.

"An Indigobird, it's a brood parasite." He stated as he clumsily dumped the pile of papers onto his desk.

"A brood parasite?"

"It goes to other birds' nests and knocks their eggs out and replaces them with their own. This way other birds take care of their young for them. I guess it's very half hearted parenting."

"Interesting… So why am I here? Thursdays aren't normally our study days."

He looked up at me with a sad look on his face, "That's because we're not studying today."

I was caught off guard. I sat forward in my seat crumpling my hands up on my desk. It was never a good sign when a teacher didn't want to teach because it meant they were there for emotional support. "Then why am I here?" I cautiously asked.

"I've heard a lot of talk about you lately." He said as he took a seat next to me, I guess it was some sort of physiological way to be on the same level as me, to get me to share my problems to him like a peer. There was no way I could see him as a peer though. The ugly tie printed with little blocks from the periodic tables gave him away.

"What about me?"

"I heard you showed up at a party the other night, and that the kids there threw you in the pool."

I sat back in my seat looking at my new suede purse breathing out an "Oh" noise. I felt a little embarrassed that the pool story was floating around school, but I must have been naïve to think that the ever expanding high school grape vine wouldn't latch on to something that juicy. It was another victory over the "outsiders". They loved boasting about kicking people when they were down.

"I'm worried about you. You shouldn't feel pressured to go to those things; drugs and alcohol can set you up for a lifetime of struggles. You're a brilliant girl and you shouldn't give into what everyone else is doing."

I shook my head, "It's not like that. I went there to retrieve a friend of mine, she was going to do something stupid and I had get her away from the party before she hurt herself."

He sighed, he looked like he didn't believe me but who would? It was no lie that I was the most unpopular girl in the school. No one that regularly attended those events would talk to me let alone be my friend. So why would I go out of my way to help the girl that made a hobby of tormenting me?

Placing his hand on mine he looked me in the eye, "If you don't want to talk to me about it that's fine. I'd like it if you came here on Thursdays too so I can keep an eye on you. We don't have to talk, we can study if you want - I'd just like to make sure you're on the right track. Okay?"

I was a little insulted. Making sure I was _on the right track _was a subtle way for him to tell me that he expected me to make a beeline for the nearest bridge. I nodded and got up to leave the room. It was touching that he cared so much about me but at the same time I was a little angry. I wasn't a charity case. I didn't need to be walked through life with someone holding my hand. What bothered me more is perhaps I appeared that way without my knowledge. If that was the case it might have been why I was targeted by my peers so often, I was playing the victim without knowing it. That would have to change.

-

I received a disturbing message from Minako. She had written it on a note and slipped it into my hand as we passed in the hall. At first the writing was clear but after a few sentences it began to morph its organized appearance into a quick scrawl. It took me a few reads through it before I figured out what the problem was and it explained why she lost her composure during her writing. She had called her parents over the phone and told them about the pregnancy. Unfortunately, they didn't take to the idea of their child having and illegitimate baby and demanded she have an abortion if she "valued her place in the family", which was basically a polite rich people way of threatening to disown her if she didn't comply.

I met her out behind the school after the last bell had rung. She sat leaning against the wall with a wadded up tissue covered in mascara pressed below her nose, she obviously had been holding it in since the night before and was at the end of her rope. I surfed around my purse retrieving a clean tissue and offered it to her. She smiled thankfully as she plucked it from my hands.

"I don't know what I'm going to do…" She mumbled through the tissue.

"What do you _want _to do?"

"I want to keep it, but I don't know how I can when my parents are being ass holes, I mean they are supposed to be my fucking support system! When I get knocked off the horse they fucking pick me back up! You know what I mean?"

"I know. Maybe you have to find a new support system."

"Like who?"

"The father for starters. Have you even told him yet?"

"No, I wasn't sure how to break it to him. He's never been the type to like babies, but he does love me. Maybe we could get married or something, that's what people do right?"

"Yeah, and that's a good start."

"And maybe if my parents see that I'm owning up to my mistake and taking charge by getting married, they'll accept me and my kid and let me stay in the family."

"It doesn't hurt to try, you have to exhaust all of your options before you can bow down to them and I think this is the best option you have. So when are you going to go tell him?"

"I'd like to go right now if we could. Any later and his neighborhood isn't so safe to walk through, especially alone. You know, gang activity and all. Would you mind going with me?"

I stopped for a moment thinking how the conversation would go with my mother as I asked her to let me walk my friend, who is a teenage mother, through a dangerous neighborhood full of drug dealers, to meet up with a possible sleaze bag. I looked down at my phone and decided she could live without that bit of information, the trip wouldn't be long and I could have just passed it off as after school activities. It would be no trouble at all, and if the worst did happen at least I helped Minako and her child.

"Sure," I said shoving my phone into my purse, "I'll go with you. But we have to be quick so lead the way."

Minako walked us through several blocks that appeared to be perfectly safe. I was beginning to wonder what she was talking about until I began to see little signs of criminal activity slowly emerge from the streets ahead. At first it was just a stray piece of litter or two, then it was spray paint on the stop signs, and finally, when we had reached our destination, there were gang symbols painted elaborately in several different colors across an abandoned house with its windows covered with cheap pieces of particle board. As we continued to walk I saw many strange looking people glaring at us as they sat on the stoops outside their run down houses. I could feel their eyes pushing on me so hard I was beginning to gravitate to Minako as we walked.

"Are we there yet?" I whispered to her, tugging on the white sleeve of her school uniform.

"Yeah it's right over there." She pointed to a house that seemed relatively well kept. It was a lovely old Victorian house with fancy wood work above the door. Its lawn was mowed and it was the first building that I saw that had been bothered to be repainted. It was a blossom growing from a pile of crap and I hoped this was a good sign.

We entered the house which I soon found was an apartment building that was split into two levels. Minako took a deep breath and dispelled a few nervous giggles and knocked on the lower apartment door which was labeled with a shiny gold number one. I heard the sound of bare feet slide across the wood floors. Judging by how well the house was kept I expected Minako's boyfriend to be clean cut and classy but I was very wrong. I was instead surprised to see a tall man with strawberry blond hair that went slightly past his shoulders come to the door. He had a pendant of a tiger hung around his neck and it appeared his interest in the predator matched the look in his eyes.

"Minako, good to see you." He purred as he leaned his slinky upper body against the door frame, "Who's this pretty friend of yours?" I blushed a little at his comment, the words were good natured but the tone made me uncomfortable.

"Usagi, she's a friend of mine from school." Minako said with a calm smile on her face, "She's just escorting me through your neighborhood; you know how I feel about it and all. Usagi this is Akihito – Akhito this is Usagi."

"Right." His voice seemed to be a little disappointed as if he was expecting something more exciting from two school girls at his door. With a sigh he waved us in. I watched him out of the corner of my eye and tried to see what Minako saw in him. He just seemed like a sleazy sexually deviant party boy but I trusted her instinct and the hard fearless look in her eyes.

"So I need to tell you something pretty important." She said casually as she walked up closer to Akihito, she placed her purse on the kitchen table. I was a little shocked to see how quick she was getting to the point but it appeared she had not doubts that anything would go wrong.

"What's that?"

A smile crept up onto Minako's face and her blue eyes began to sparkle as she took hold of one of his hands. "We're going to have a baby." She said excitedly. Almost instantly after she said it he tore his hand from hers and brought it back to his chest protectively.

"What's wrong?"

"We're not going to have a baby because it's not mine."

"Yes it is!" She insisted frantically.

"No, you're a whore. You must have been sleeping around or something! It's not mine!"

"Don't say that, you're the only one I've been with for months now, there is no way it _isn't_ yours." There was some silence from the cat-like man as the information sunk in, "Please, I need your help. I can't do this without you. My parents are going to make me get an abortion if I don't have you with me."

"Then get an abortion!" He shouted at her, his fists were clenched tightly into balls, "Minako, you're a cute piece of ass but I don't want to be tied to you through marriage and certainly not through a baby."

Tears were beginning to well up in Minako's eyes, her face was beginning to get paler and paler as Akihito's words burrowed into her head. "You can't mean that. You're just shocked by it all, I was too but the idea of being a parent will grow on you. It did with me."

"I told you I'm not the fucking father!" He screamed as grabbed hold of a ceramic plate from his kitchen table and slammed in into the floor sending tiny shards of glass sliding across the linoleum tiles. Minako flinched and move closer and closer to me. I felt compelled to say or do something but I didn't know anything about relationships. I had never had a boyfriend, I had never been pregnant, I hadn't even been kissed before, but there I was thrown into an adult situation knowing nothing more than to watch.

"Please, just listen to me, the baby is yours. You're going to have to take responsibility." She said, her voice shaking in fear as she inched closer to him hoping to tame his anger. She reached a hand out to him but he slapped it away hard.

"You don't tell me what to do! Get out," He screamed grabbing Minako by the shoulders. He opened the door and violently shoved her out making her fall onto her knees. He then grabbed me by the arm and escorted me out in the same manner and followed it up by swiftly chucking Minako's purse at her as she tried to get up, "Don't come by here with this bullshit again, you little slut."

The door was then slammed and all was quiet. I looked over at Minako who was still sitting haphazardly on her knees looking down at the ground. I tried to see her face but her hair was draped over her making it hard to see what she was feeling. At first I couldn't hear anything from her but then little hiccups and sobs started to emerge from behind her golden curtain.

"Minako, are you alright?" I asked trying to delicately move strands of her blonde hair out of the way.

"He's not usually like this…" She whispered through her tears. I didn't say anything though. He probably wasn't acting as he always did because he wanted to sleep with her. That's probably all he ever wanted from her. I grabbed hold of her arm and helped her stand up, I bent down to pick up her purse and handed it to her but she didn't take it. She just stared silently as tears dripped from her cheeks. I escorted her through the slums once again with less fear this time. I was determined to destroy anyone that tried to do anything to her if no one would keep her safe, I would.

We were exiting the bad area of town and moving closer to my own neighborhood. I still held tightly onto Minako's arm as she walked with me in her catatonic haze. She hadn't said anything since we left and I was beginning to worry if she'd be alright. To my left I saw a door close and someone emerged from it.

"Hey, Minako!" Seiya greeted as he walked down from his porch. I looked up at him trying to give him the silent "now's not a good time" look but he didn't read it.

"Wow, you look like complete crap. Are you ok?" He asked as he placed a hand on Minako's shoulder. I took a better look at her face and it was much paler than before, the pink from her blush appeared to float over her rather green colored face.

"I…" Minako muttered faintly, "I…hurt." She then started to lose her balance and fell against Seiya.

"What did you do?!" I screamed pushing Seiya aside.

"I didn't do anything!" He defended. I looked over to him to see his eyes growing wide. I looked down to see that pints thick red blood was sliding from Minako's skirt down her legs.

"Oh my God! Seiya call 911!" I screamed. I brought her to the ground laying her down gently while Seiya talked to the 911 operator. Within minutes I could hear the echo of sirens flying through the city streets. Soon Minako was surrounded in men with puffy blue jackets with the Caduceus patched onto their shoulders. While she was being strapped onto a gurney, a police officer came to me and asked me about her family. I knew that her parents were hours away so I lied and told him that we were her family. He then gave me some information about the hospital she would be sent to and told us he would drive us there.

-

Seiya and I walked through the moving doors of the hospital. Quickly, the sent of disinfectant wafted into my face making my eyes burn a little. Seiya pointed out the front desk where a woman dressed in pink sat.

"Hi, I'm looking for Aino Minako's room." I asked the woman at the desk. She typed something quickly into the computer in front of her and snapped her gum as she scanned the computer screen.

"Yeah," The woman whined not bothering to look up from her screen, "She's in room F117 but you can't visit her just yet. She's probably being examined by her doctor but you can go up and wait in the lobby." We took her advice and made ourselves comfortable in the lobby closest to F117. It was strange to me that Seiya had followed me this far, I was almost certain he would have just left once the paramedics arrived for Minako. I studied his profile from the corner of my eye as he sat calmly next to me, he hands rested on the arms of the chair.

"What?" He looked over to me.

I felt the heat rise up into my face, "N-Nothing...Uh, Why are you here?"

"I don't really know. I guess I'm just worried about Minako, that much blood can't be a good thing in any way. What do you think is wrong with her?"

I sat for a moment sorting through all the possibilities, there was only one obvious answer, "I think she miscarried."

"Miscarried? Wait - she's pregnant?"

"Yeah, she's been pregnant for a few weeks now. It's too bad it had to end this way, she's going to be devastated."

Suddenly Seiya's eyes lit up, "Oh wow! This explains a lot! This is why you were so buddy, buddy with her, you must have found out her secret and you're blackmailing her so she won't give you grief. I guess you _should_ be hoping for the best then, right?"

I knew his cooperation wouldn't last long. I wanted to slap him again for being so rude, "Good Lord, Seiya learn to think before you speak! I don't just help people to gain something from it! I helped Minako because she needed someone; she's pregnant and completely alone. I don't think I could live with myself knowing I ignored someone who was feeling scared and hopeless. Humans are social creatures; we need one another to live."

Seiya looked down at his lap and made a little "Oh," noise.

"I don't expect you to understand, _Mr. Rock Star_. Feeling for others is foreign to you I'm sure." I glanced down at my skirt and noticed a few spots of Minako's blood that had soaked into the blue fabric and dried. Seeing the blood reminded me that I had lost track of time, I quickly looked at the clock. It was almost ten o'clock. I was shocked that the day had gone by so fast. My mother would be angry with me no doubt, but it was worth the hassle to make sure Minako was ok.

There was some odd silence between us as we waited for word from someone. I had realized that the only other time I saw him that day was when I told him he was being overdramatic for feeling upset. I was too busy to really think about it until then and I started to feel sorry for saying what I did. "I'm sorry." I apologized quickly.

"S'cuse me?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said you were being overdramatic earlier. I admit I do play the victim a lot and I think that after being teased and bullied for so long the only way I know how to retaliate is the same way I was bullied. I have to watch what I say…And I'm sorry."

Seiya didn't respond but it seemed like my apology was still sinking in. He opened his mouth a little as if to say something but the voice of a man emerged from above us.

"You're Minako's family, correct?"

"Friends actually, there was a mix up." I said to the man who was wearing a stark white coat.

"Oh, well, I'm Dr. Matsui. I'm just informing you that she's able to see you for a few minutes. We still have a few tests left to determine exactly what happened but we'll let you see her in the meantime."

I stood up and thanked the doctor and counted the room numbers until I came to hers. She was lying still in the hospital bed wearing the typical light blue gown. An I.V. wound up her arm and into a bag of clear liquid and the sound of her heart beeped through a little machine to her left. Her head was tilted back over her pillow in sleep, so I walked in as silently as I could with Seiya trailing behind me. I sat down in a puke green chair and waited for her to wake.

"Usagi…" She said in a long weary drawl. I leaned forward and grabbed her hand.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"No, I've been awake. But I'm really tired…"

"You can sleep, it's okay. I don't mind."

"It's gone now." She whispered through chapped colorless lips.

"What's gone?"

"The baby, I don't feel him there." She rolled her head to the other side, "He's gone, just like mom and dad wanted."

I frowned, "You don't know that. They haven't even finished your tests, this could be something else."

She squeezed my hand tightly her voice became low, "No, I just know…It's probably best that things ended like this…"

I didn't doubt she knew exactly what happened even before the doctors would, but I tried to remain positive hoping that my wishful thinking would undo what had happened, "Well, we'll just have to see."

I let go of her hand and leaned back in the chair, she was beginning to drift in and out of sleep and soon I was going with her. The next thing I knew I was being gently roused by Seiya's hand. I looked up to see Minako talking with the doctor. She was crying as he told her about what she had already predicted. The stress from Akihito's denial had pushed her to her limit and her body terminated the pregnancy itself. He tried to comfort her by squeezing her shoulder but nothing seemed to make her feel any better. He came over to Seiya and I and informed us that she would remain in the hospital for another twenty-four hours so they could observe her and make sure she was okay. A woman they called a "sitter" was brought into the room, she would sit with Minako until she was discharged, probably to make sure she didn't harm herself. I guessed that if postpartum depression made her sad the lost of her child would most certainly make it worse.

I looked at my watch, it was two A.M. I leaned down to Minako and gave her a long hug and a kiss on the cheek. It felt foreign for a moment, showing affection to someone that I previously hated, but it didn't take long for Minako to latch onto me. She sunk into my hug like she needed it to live. After we parted, Seiya leaned over to give her a hug as well and then we both said goodnight and left to go home. I felt upset to leave her when she was in need of so much comfort but the visiting hours were long past and I needed to go. I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I looked over to see Seiya's worried blue eyes peering at me from his taller height.

"It'll be ok…" He comforted me, sensing my internal distress. It shocked me at how sensitive he could be, I would have never known he knew how I felt had he not said something. It made me wonder if he was a wearer of masks, the type of person who had a different one for each person he knew. Before I yelled at him at the party, he would wear the mask he used with Minako and now it was like he was using one just for me.

"Thanks." I said looking back down at my watch. My mother was going to go ballistic when she found me coming home so late. I sighed and clutched my bunny purse close to my chest and walked out into the dark night. My house wasn't too far from where I was but the walk was a little daunting at that particular hour. I had heard about people getting robbed and mugged and murdered at night. I hate the dark. Even in the quietest neighborhoods strange people emerge when it gets dark, it worried me to think I might run into them alone. I looked over to Seiya who appeared to be perfectly fine with the idea of walking alone and decided I could take advantage of his courage.

"Seiya?" I asked, swallowing my pride.

"Yes?"

"Can you walk home with me?" His face looked a little shocked that I would willingly ask for him to be near me, he smiled mischievously.

"Why? Are you scared?" He teased. I felt a little annoyed but it was much nicer seeing him less depressed. My apology must have done the trick.

"No, I just don't want to be alone." I defended myself, but he could see I really was scared. He humored me and let me keep my pride.

"Okay then, let's go." He said still smiling.

The walk was just as dark and scary as I had predicted. I was jumping at every small noise from the wind and every rustle of leaves from small nocturnal animals. I found myself gravitating closer and closer to Seiya as we walked, hoping that his aura would fight off all the bad things that might be out to get me. As we walked I started to get small warm wafts of his cologne, it smelled like a combination of vanilla and cinnamon. I laughed a little because the sent made me hungry for cinnamon rolls.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"It's nothing really." I said still smiling.

"No really, what's so funny?"

"You smell like Cinnabon. I just thought I'd never associate you with gooey breakfast pastries. I think it's your cologne or something, it's funny."

"My cologne? It's fifty bucks a bottle and you think it smells like Cinnabon? Its supposed to smell like Egyptian musk…" He said pouting a little as he sniffed down his shirt, "Guess I shouldn't buy this kind anymore. What a waste of money."

"No, keep using it. I like it." I stated without thinking. He looked over to me a little more interested in the conversation than before, I then followed it up with "Not that it should matter what I think."

"Right…" He said with a funny smile now looking at me with a strange look in his eye.

"W-Well this is my house." I stammered. Pointing the house we stood in front of, my mother had left the lights on, no doubt because she was worried sick about me. I walked up the stairs slowly noticing that I could feel Seiya's eyes on my back. I looked back at him as he stood casually at the stairs with his hands in his pockets.

"Just making sure the monsters don't get you on your way to the door." He teased.

Suddenly the door to my house flung open under my hands. My mother stood in the doorway wearing the clothes she had on from earlier in the day, her face plastered with rage.

"Where the hell have you been? Do you have any idea what time it is?" She screamed at me, I saw her eyes flick past me onto Seiya. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes squinted up, I suddenly felt the horror of the situation rising in the pit of my stomach, "Is _this_ the reason why you were out so late? You were out bouncing about town with this, this…"

"His name is Seiya, mom. He's just a friend! He helped me take a friend of mine to the hospital, she was sick."

"She's telling the truth we were just coming back from the hospital." Seiya chimed in trying to back me up.

"A _friend_? I didn't teach you to be a liar Usagi. Haruka called here looking for you. If she was at the hospital with you she wouldn't need to." It occurred to me that I had never told her about Minako, partially out of shame and partially out of fear. She expected my only friend to be Haruka, telling her I was helping out a teenage mother in a bad part of town was only going to make the situation worse.

"I'm telling you the truth Mom! You're just going to have to trust me on this." I held my hands out in desperation praying that she believe me. She looked down at my hands and her eye caught something. I watched as her angry glare became angrier, I looked down to see that she had zeroed in on the blood stain on my skirt. Her eyes bolted over to Seiya.

"Did you do this?" She demanded as she grabbed my arm and spun me around. I immediately understood what she was talking about and the embarrassment was too much to bear. I was beginning to feel my face get hot and my throat tighten up as I watched Seiya shake his head in fear at the blood stain. She cussed at him under her breath, "Leave my property and stay away from my daughter!"

Seiya tried to explain things to her but to no avail. She told him to leave again and threatened to call the cops if she ever saw him with me again. He looked up at me and I tried to tell him I was sorry but I was too upset to speak, I only hoped that the sorrow in my eyes reached him somehow. My mother yanked me hard into the house and began tearing into me with more accusations.

"I raised you better than this! I taught you to be a good girl, one that didn't lie and have premarital sex!"

"We didn't do anything like that!" I screamed with tears running down my face.

"Oh come on! I wasn't born yesterday, I know what that blood is from!"

"It's from my friend I told you we had to take her to the hospital!"

"Again with the lies, Usagi! Is that kid influencing you to act this way? Did he sweet talk you into giving yourself to him?"

"No! I barely even know him. I swear to God, Mom." My mother's breathing and face were beginning to calm down but the anger and betrayal she felt was still evident. I could see the way her mind was working, she wanted to believe me but she just didn't know how or why she should. Being a good kid up until that point just wasn't enough for her.

"Usagi, I'm taking you to the doctor tomorrow to test you." She said sternly.

"To test me? Isn't that a little medieval?"

"I'm worried about STDs and pregnancy, that's hardly medieval."

"You're not, I know you. You just want to test to see if I'm still a virgin…"

"That's absurd! Your health over all is what is important."

"My 'purity' is all that's important to you. You don't want your precious reputation at church to be tarnished by having a "Jezebel" in your family…" I muttered as I jerked my arm away from her. She said a few more words but I wasn't listening I was tired and upset and all I could think of was bed and how it could take away all my troubles. Without changing or wiping the tears from my face I fell face down into my pillow and prayed sleep would take me soon.


	7. Chapter 7

_I want to thank everyone who's been so kind as to comment on this story. I just want you all to know I'm having a blast writing this fic and I hope everyone is having as much fun reading it. Without further ado, here's chapter 7._

**

* * *

**

**I **walked slowly through the halls dragging my feet against the cold floor beneath me. The day had gone slowly and dreadfully as the minutes until my "examination" ticked by like agonizing hours. I had never gone to a doctor for the reasons my mother was making me go for, needless to say I nervous and very scared. The entire day I tried to find someone to talk to but Haruka was out sick with the flu and Minako was still in the hospital. Every so often I would run into Seiya but I just hid my face under my bangs pretending to not see him. I felt guilty that my mother accused him of the things she did and I felt embarrassed that he had to witness it. He wasn't a bad person and he had no reason to be treated like one. Just thinking about how my mother threatened to call the cops on him made my blood boil.

I listened to the rhythm of my feet sliding over the floor and started to find comfort in its steady sound. I heard a warning bell ring but I didn't jump at it. If I was missing a class I didn't really care. If I got detention then I wouldn't have to go home and I wouldn't have to have humiliating tests done to me. Suddenly, the lovely warm smell of cinnamon and vanilla floated up to my nose and I stopped in my tracks. Seiya had been following behind me watching me shamble down the halls. I felt his warm fingertips brush the side of my bare arm before grabbing onto it. I stood still in my spot, refusing to turn around.

"_Odango_, are you alright?" His voice spoke from behind me.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said trying to sound as convincing as possible, though I still refused to turn around and look at him. I was still too embarrassed to look him in the eyes. I felt if he saw my face he would know too much about me, he would know I was sad, ashamed, and fearful of what he thought of me and my insane mother. It would give him the wrong impression about me.

He loosened his grip on my arm seeing that he wasn't going to get me to turn around, "About last night, I'm sorry-"

"I'm sorry you had to see that. My mother is very old fashioned, but I understand why she acted the way she did. She was just worried about me."

"Well I just wanted to let you know that I felt bad about getting you in trouble and I wanted to know if we could still be friends?"

He thought I was his friend, for the first time that day I felt overjoyed. But it couldn't stay that way. We couldn't be friends. "Oh, I thought we had at a mutual hatred for one another…" I felt terrible saying it, but I didn't want him to get any closer to me than he was getting. I knew if we really did become friends things could only get worse from there.

"Why would you say that?" I could hear the disappointment in his voice.

"You're a fancy rock star and I'm just a sheltered silly little girl. Our friendship just can't be done anyways, I ruined your career remember?" I could feel him distancing himself from me, I could sense his body tensing up and his voice became colder.

"That's right." He said, he then hesitated, "Well it was nice knowing you Usagi."

I heard him turn around to leave, taking his sweet scent with him. Feeling a strange pain in my chest I leaned up against the wall and tried to stifle back tears. Why did I feel so bad? I hardly knew Seiya, all I did know was how mean he could be and yet all I wanted was to be friends with him. It couldn't have happened though, my mother ruled my life with an iron fist until I left and lived on my own. Simply knowing Seiya would throw my life off track, I can't live with that much animosity between my mother and I and still function. It was all for the better.

Trying to kill the pain in my chest, I began to run. I felt that if maybe my heart beat faster the pain would go away and for a while it worked until I heard the distant sound of crying. I didn't know if my mind was expressing how I felt or if someone else shared the same pain I did. I slowed my pace to a walk and tried to stifle my breathing so I could hear where the sound was coming from better. I followed it down the hallway to the art wing and into the ceramics room. I peeked my head in and saw black hair splayed over the back of a weeping girl. I walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder empathetically.

"Are you okay?" I asked, the girl turned her head towards me, it was Rei. "What are you doing here?"

Rei wiped her dark eyes and turned back. I noticed she was studying the pottery wheels in the corner, running her fingers through remnants of slick wet clay left from an earlier class. "You were right about Taiki and the nurse. I don't know how I couldn't see it…" She spoke in a messy, saddened voice.

I sat down next to her and watched her mess around with the clay on the wheel, spinning it slowly with her fingers, "Are you going to be okay?" I asked her hoping to get her to open up a little more with me. She shook her head silently never taking her gaze from the wheel.

"I think I need to do something about it though." She pressed her fingers hard into the clay causing it to flatten out.

"It's good you came to this realization, I didn't want to be the one to tell you." I said with an honest smile and placed a gentile supportive hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know how I can manage this all by myself though," She sighed, slumping her head into her snow white hands, "It's just been a bad day, oh and I have go to karate practice today…I really don't feel like going."

"Maybe that's a good thing. Doing karate might keep your mind of things. Physical activity always does." I suggested, she smiled at me sadly and nodded as she picked up her things. It didn't look like there was anything I could say to make her feel better, but I didn't expect there to be. Love like hers was foreign to me.

"You're right. Anyways, I've got to get to class – you're going to be late too. I'll see you later." I waved her goodbye and checked the time not that it mattered. I didn't expect to go back to class anyways. As I turned to go, I saw a picture sitting on Taiki's desk. It was a picture of the nurse only one half of the picture had been torn away. It must have been Rei who tore it, still hanging on to hope that maybe he'd come around. I just hoped she would come to her senses before she started to self destruct.

Still not feeling like doing anything but walk I decided to go back outside and sit at my tree even though I knew no one else would be there. As I walked up to it I noticed something crush underneath my foot. I picked the object up and saw that it was a cherry. I looked all around me and saw them littering the ground everywhere. I looked up at my tree to see that it had produced them and I never even noticed it. The entire time I thought it was an oak tree. I needed to study up on my botany. I traveled to the other side of the tree to sit down but to my surprise someone had beat me to it. Minako looked up at me with weary blue eyes and waved to me with a cigarette in her hand. It looked like it was going to be the world's greatest pity party. I sat down next to her and watched the people behind the chain link fence wander by as they shopped.

"I thought you were going to be at the hospital for a little while more." I commented playing with another cherry that I had found on the ground.

"No, I demanded I have my discharge papers given to me. I couldn't stand being in that damn hospital gown for much longer. I'm not going to kill myself, so I didn't see why I needed to stay."

"Well I guess that's good." I didn't know what to say to her, I wasn't sure if we were still friends now that our little contract was gone. There was no secret to tell if Minako went back to her old ways. I expected that she was going to go to term and that I would make a valiant effort to help her give birth secretly somewhere and she'd name the baby after me and we'd be best friends forever. Of coarse this wasn't going to be the case even if she did go to term.

"Are we still friends?" Minako asked suddenly out of the blue. I was shocked and relieved that she was the first to ask. I thought that I would be the one to want to stay friends and Minako would just push me away as if we never knew each other.

"I wouldn't mind it. Would you?"

"No, I don't think I would mind either." She said as she puffed her cigarette again, "So why aren't you in class?"

"I haven't been feeling like it lately. I'm a little depressed."

"About what?"

"Just something that happened with Seiya and me. My mom accused him of taking me out late last night and doing 'the deed' with me. She threatened to call the cops on him and everything. So now I'm refusing to have anything to do with him so I don't get him arrested on accident or something."

"Wow, that sounds almost as ridiculous as my parents. It's almost funny though." She laughed as she shot clouds of smoke from her nostrils. She reminded me of a dragon when she did that.

"I don't think so. I've never felt as bad as I do right now, I can't even explain it. I just don't know what for, Seiya and I weren't that close."

"Apparently you were if you feel as bad as you do. It sounds like you're heartbroken."

I stopped and concidered the idea. Was I heartbroken? I never thought I was in love with him before. Sure I thought he was cute but he always made me so angry I never really felt love. The only time we had actually gotten along is when we were working to help Minako. But then there was also the night before when he walked me home, it was uncharacteristically sweet of him, but as sweet as it was it was only one time. Not enough to make me fall in love with him.

"I don't think that's it. I don't know what's wrong. All I know is I feel like crap." I said as I swiped the cigarette from Minako's hands and brought it up to my lips. Her eyes got wide and a smile grew on her face.

"Oh…Usagi I don't think you should try it if you've never smoked be-" I inhaled and suddenly began sputtering an wheezing, all while Minako laughed and slapped her knee, "I told you not to, you shouldn't start up anyways it's a bad habit. I don't even remember why I started. Must have been that peer pressure thing."

I laughed a little, clearing my voice and wiping water from my eyes, "I don't know what possessed me, I guess I was just curious. It's just my rebellious nature I guess."

Minako shook her head and laughed, "Oh yeah Usagi, you really push it to the limits." She took her cigarette back and puffed on it again. I looked at my watch and noted that school would be over in an hour or two. I was debating whether it was safe for me to blow of my doctor's appointment to stay after with Mr. Chiba. As dorky as he was I saw no reason not to visit him today it would be the perfect opportunity to come home late.

"I think I might see Mr. Chiba again after school." I commented. Minako looked over at me and arched an eyebrow. I looked at her questioningly, "What?" I asked defensively.

"How often do you see him after school?"

"Twice a week, why?"

"Ah, well I guess that's not too bad. What do you guys talk about?"

"Me, I guess. He always asks about me, and then sometimes I get him to tutor me for chem. Why does it matter?"

"You should keep an eye on him. He likes vulnerable school girls. There have been stories about how he was secretly dating Rei Hino for a while but he broke it off with her because she was a little too unstable. A lot of people claim she seduced him since she's always been interested in older men but I think he got her started."

"Oh that would explain her obsession with the ceramics teacher. I doubt that she was actually with Mr. Chiba though. I'm almost positive he'd be fired by now."

"Maybe, I just don't think that anyone found out. But don't over look him, you're just tortured enough to be a turn on I guarantee." She coughed and changed the subject "But yeah that girl, Rei, is mentally insane. She's been institutionalized for her random outbursts of violence. One time she attacked a girl that appeared to be crushing on one of her teachers, that was the first time she was carted away."

"I have a hard time believing that, Rei is a sweet girl. She crushes hard on people but I don't think I've seen her so much as think about hitting anybody let alone attacking someone."

"Think what you will. She's a violent girl and when she thinks her happiness in jeopardy she'll manage to do anything. I don't know how her parents can allow her to practice martial arts with a history like hers." She continued on but I was too busy thinking of other things now like Rei and Mr. Chiba. It just seemed so strange to me. I didn't want to think of him that way, thinking of him fawning over schoolgirls made me lose respect for him, maybe because he seemed like a completely asexual to me. Plus he was teacher and teachers didn't think like that. At least I wanted to hope that was the truth. But what Minako said about Rei did make some sense; she was very obsessive over people, especially Taiki. Maybe she thought it would work because she and Chiba seemed to pull it off with out anyone noticing. Suddenly it hit me like a ton of bricks, this had happened before and she didn't get any help. This wasn't just a crush on a teacher she was in love with him to the point of delusion! When she said she needed to _do something about it_ she had no intention to go out and get help from a counselor. She was going to solve it her own way.

Without a word I quickly jumped up from my spot on the grass leaving my things there. I bumped into Seiya again pushing past him almost spinning him around like a top. Without an apology I continued on into the school and to the nurse's office where I saw the tail of Rei's blue skirt disappearing into the room.

"Rei!" I screamed with my hand outstretched trying to reach her but she didn't come out. Instead I heard the breaking of glass and some screaming following it. I heard a body hit the floor with a heavy thud and the sound of more things breaking. I swung swiftly into the room seeing Miss Meioh's elegant body resting motionlessly against the wall. The things from her desk were strewn about the floor next to her. Rei stood over her with cold darkened eyes, her hand raised up in a tight fist with a colorful piece of Taiki's vase clutched within it.

"Rei, stop it!" I called to her. She turned around with a hopeful smile on her face.

"Usagi, I-I'm going to fix things! Have you come to help me?" She asked still smiling.

"No I can't let you do this. It's wrong!" I shouted as I quickly I ran up to her grabbing hold of her arm. I didn't know how this would end, I was picking a fight with a black belt and my odds of winning were low. But if I was going to be part of that moment, I would try my hardest to keep her from jamming that glass into Miss Meioh.

"What are you doing? I thought you were my friend!" She screamed struggling to free herself from my white knuckled grip on her arm.

"I am! That's why I'm trying to keep you from ruining your life. You're going to get arrested for assault or murder and then Taiki will never want you!"

"Shut up! You don't know the compassion he is capable of. He's a living god!"

"I can guarantee you that he has no room in his heart for psychotic murderers!"

"I told you to shut up!" Rei screamed as she started shaking me around on her arm trying to get me off. I grabbed hold of her other arm hoping that another restraint would hold her but instead she took her foot and kicked my legs out from under me. Trying to brace myself, I closed my eyes and fell forward pushing her down onto the ground. Suddenly I felt a burning sharp pain in my chest. I pulled away from Rei quickly and looked down at myself. The shard of glass that was intended for Miss Meioh was imbedded in my own chest. Rei sat up looking at me her eyes wide with shock.

"Oh…Oh God…I'm so…Sorry." She whispered as she backed away from the blood that was peeking quickly through my uniform.

Feeling a little sick to my stomach, the taste of metal began to flood over my tongue and out my mouth. I felt a warm trickling sensation spill from the corner of my mouth. I placed a hand up to my face and pulled away with a frightening red color dripping from my fingers. Rei leaped up and sprinted from the room kicking up bits of glass as she ran. I wanted to hope she was running to get help but I sincerely doubted it. I looked over to the Nurse who was still unconscious; she would be no use to me even if I could have woken her. A red mark on her head indicated that she probably had a pretty severe concussion.

I stood up on shaky legs and stumbled to the door where I rested myself for a moment. I hung my head forward trying to catch my breath. I watched red liquid ooze from my chest and trickle down my legs to the floor as I struggled to breathe. I concidered pulling the shard out but I was afraid that it was the only thing holding in what little blood I had left. I continued moving down to the corner of the hall, my vision was blurring over so much that the hall looked like it was forked when I knew it only had one turn.

"Help me." I tried to scream, but all I could hear was a thick gurgle coming from my throat. With no more life left in my body I finally made my decent to the floor jamming the piece of vase further into my body. My vision was almost completely gone now, but I could feel the cold tile suddenly become warm underneath me. This was it, I thought. I was going to die lying in a puddle of my own blood. I was going to be the first thing on the news that night and in the obituaries the morning after. I couldn't hear anything beside the slowing beat of my own heart but I was sure that people were staring at me, screaming, swearing, not because the life of another was slipping away on the floor but because it was me. I was always the car accident that everyone one stopped to look at. I would die never knowing what it was like to be kissed or loved, never knowing what the feeling of freedom from school was like, never growing old, never having children, getting married. I suppose that it was okay that I would die so soon, there wasn't much to lose when I had no life to be taken away.

I felt the ground next to me begin to vibrate as my breathing became shallow. I felt my body flip over on its own and then suddenly my arms were dangling below me. Maybe it wasn't over, I thought, I had a savior, someone who picked me up and brought me to safety. I remember being pulled back to conciseness by a hot feeling on my face. My eyes shot open and I sent out a few ragged blood filled coughs. Mr. Chiba moved back from trying to resuscitate me. The pain started to flood back into my chest like a knife that sent fire down my arms. I screamed out and grabbed his shirt tightly until some strange men with blue jackets quickly picked me up and strapped me to a gurney. As they buckled me down one of the men hit the part of the shard that was sticking from my chest with his arm summoning a scream so loud I blacked out again. And that's all I remember about that moment in time.


	8. Chapter 8

_I didn't expect to post this so soon after the last two chapters but I figured I'd be nice and give you a special treat since I was informed that my cliff hanger was too cruel. ; ) I have the next two or three chapters planned out but not written yet so it maybe a week or so until the next update. I have to take a day or two off in order for me to come back and check through to edit it. __**Fish: army of one.**__ Hehe, anyways, I hope this chapter in enjoyable and I hope to hear your thoughts._

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Usagi - **

**T**he next few days were a hazy menagerie of drug induced slumbers and wavy memories of visitors I never talked to but saw briefly. Soon I started to see more and more visitors that I remembered talking in small bits to. Haruka and Michiru came to visit I remembered saying "pretty" when I saw the get well flowers Haruka had brought me, I remember her smile and her cough, she was still sick from the flu, and I fell asleep again. I saw Minako greet me with the same hug I gave her in the hospital and I thanked her for it.

Soon I was fully conscious for hours on end and I would lounge in my bed watching T.V. with my mother, who had been with me the entire time. As much as I was angered by what she did to Seiya I was thankful she was with me. I had never been in the hospital before then and knew nothing about it. She, being a nurse for a living, would adjust my bed, check my I.V. and help me to the bathroom when I couldn't walk there alone. Once my mother had met Minako during her visit, I think she started to believe my story when I came home late and felt sorry for over reacting. I didn't hold it against her though. She was just doing what she knew best.

Throughout my time at the hospital my friends returned when I was more awake, through their visits I got little bits of information on what happened. Rei was taken into police custody for assault on both Miss Meioh and I not long after she ran from the scene. After I left the nurse's office and collapsed I was found by Mr. Chiba who gave me mouth to mouth resuscitation to keep my alive while the paramedics came. I felt bad that I believed what Minako had said about him, he saved my life and deserved all of my love and respect. I was told had he not done C.P.R on me I would have died for sure.

Amongst all my visitors there was one I didn't see, Seiya. I hadn't seen him or heard even rumors of him knowing I was in the hospital, not that I expected him to come see me anyways. I told him we hated each other, whether he did or didn't at that time he certainly did now and probably had no interest in whether I lived or died. As I sat in my bed thinking about him I felt the stitches over my heart sting at the sound of my mind saying his name. I missed his cinnamon smell. I missed him. I rolled over onto my side; I winced as the I.V. in the top of my hand tugged on its stand. "Maybe I _am_ heart broken?" I wondered to myself. Suddenly, the door to my room opened and I saw Mr. Chiba pop out from the other side with a vase of light pink flowers. I couldn't see his face right away until he put the flowers down to reveal a boyish smile. I always thought it was interesting how men of any age were able to pull off this cute little anomaly.

"Mr. Chiba, what are you doing here?" I said examining the flowers that he had set by all the others people had brought for me.

"I just felt it was necissary for me to come and visit you. I've been worried sick since I saw you taken into the ambulance."

"Oh, I have to thank you for the hard work you did keeping me alive. I owe my life to you. I don't know how to repay you."

He frowned and waved it off, "It's nothing, I'm sure you would have done the same for me and anyone else."

"Well I don't know about that, I don't really know C.P.R."

"Well you can thank me by taking a class in it so when I do need it you'll be there for me."

I laughed and nodded. He sat down next to me and brought out the missing assignments I had for the week. He had no idea that the one good thing about being in the hospital was not being at school. But education was important to him and I was flattered that he took the time to come help me with my school work. We spent an hour on Chemistry and another on talking about my future like college and plans like that and soon it was time for him to go.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I have something else for you." He said as he packed all my papers away in a folder.

"Oh, please you don't have to give me anything else, I'm happy just being alive."

"I'd like to take you to the Zoo." He looked up shaking the bangs out of his eyes.

"The Zoo? That's a little strange."

"Well I noticed that you like to look at all the taxidermy animals in the class room and I thought that maybe you'd like to go see live ones. Are you interested?"

I looked around the room with my nose up in the air, "I don't see anything more interesting around here."

"Good, good, the first day you're out of here we'll go to the Zoo then." He said with a smile. He then waved me goodbye and went for the door but he bumped into someone on his way out I heard a brief "excuse me" and then he was gone. Behind the door emerged a new head.

"Seiya…" I said quietly, I felt a sudden heat flare up in my chest and I laid a hand on my bandage in fear my stitches might pop out. I quickly realized that I was basically naked under my paper gown and grabbed my covers up over my chest. I don't know why I was so concerned it wasn't as if he had X-ray vision or anything. I was just paranoid I guess.

He walked in quietly with serious eyes and sat down in the chair by my bed. He didn't say anything he only stared at me. I blinked a little and looked over at him hoping that he would say something before I would but he didn't he just sat next to me.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked him trying to get him to avert his gaze from me. With the way he was looking at me I was beginning to think that maybe he did have X-ray vision.

"You're going out with Chiba." He said point-blank. He must have been listening in on the conversation I was having with him on his way to see me. I wasn't sure if I should have been angry that he was eavesdropping or happy that he wanted to see me.

"Yes, when I'm done here we're going to the Zoo is there something wrong with that?"

"You're going on a date with a teacher, that's dangerous territory Usagi. I've heard things about him."

"So have I, but there is no evidence to prove any of it - he wasn't fired, I haven't heard anything from Rei, and I have never felt one bit uncomfortable about being around him. He hasn't been anything more than nice to me. And besides it's not a date it's more of a biology lesson."

"_He hasn't been anything more than nice_ to you? Well he certainly took no time tearing your shirt off you and putting his mouth on you at the school. That was very 'nice' of him." He stated bluntly. I suddenly felt a deep blush creep over my face. I hadn't heard that part of the story. Seeing as Seiya was reporting it back to me it must have meant that he saw me shirtless. I suddenly felt the need to be defensive to hide my obvious embarrassment I was feeling.

"It's not like that! He did that so I could live, it needed to be done. Would you rather I die than be a little exposed?"

"All I'm saying is that he might have an ulterior motive behind taking you out. He's older so he knows how to say exactly the right things, he knows how to get you relaxed and the next thing you know he'll leading you back to his place."

"Seiya, do I look like I'm that gullible?" I asked.

"Are you afraid of him?"

"No."

"Then yes. You should always be second guessing men. I think you can be easily taken by the moment, you'll feel safe with him until those last crucial minutes. And most of the time I get the feeling you don't understand anything that goes on in your head."

"God, why do you think you know me so well? You don't know a thing about me."

"I know enough about you and enough about women in general to make the assumption."

I clenched my blankets in my hands; he thought he knew so damn much about me and how I acted, he thought he knew it all. "Why are you so concerned anyways? Maybe I want to go with him. Maybe I do feel a little flame for him?"

"You're full of it." He stated looking a little irritated.

"Am I? I'm a lonely girl. Never been kissed, never had a boyfriend. Maybe Mr. Chiba has what I'm looking for? That sexy air that only a real 'man' can give off is enough for me to let him bend me anyway he pleases." Seiya's face was now twisting up into a disgusted look, his hands were grasping at the chair and it was evident he was completely bothered by me even pretending to be in love with Mr. Chiba. If I didn't know him better I would have said he was jealous of him. I was flattered he was jealous but I knew it was for the wrong reasons. He wanted to be the center of my attention, I was the only girl he couldn't sway with those beautiful eyes and it bothered the crap out of him. It was then that I decided I was going to play this up till he couldn't take it anymore.

"I mean he's so much more of a man than some gangly inexperienced teenage boy." I flipped my hair over to the side of my head and clutched my blankets to my chest looking at Seiya coyly all while cackling manically in my head as I watched him squirm. He stood up looking like he was at the end of his rope.

"Do whatever the hell you want. I was just going to warn you but if you want to go on like this that's fine. Whether you take him seriously or not, this can only end badly and I won't shed a tear for you when it does." Without another word he stormed out of the room. I sighed, I did it again. I pushed him too far and he exploded, he was just looking out for me. I started to feel bad playing with him like that, but I was justified in feeling angry. Mr. Chiba saved my life, he may have done it crudely but I was breathing. I supposed I should have thanked Mr. Chiba for the ability to even feel bad.

I sighed and rolled over onto my side and looked at Mr. Chiba's flowers and the empty chair beside it. I noticed that something was out of place from when Seiya visited. An unopened pink envelope sat alone next to the vase from the flowers. I flipped it over and read the front: "_Odango_" was written delicately on it in black pen. I didn't know why he called me that, I wasn't sure if it was an insult or some sort of pet name. I opened the letter; it was a card in the typical Hallmark style with one bear hugging another with a thermometer in its mouth with the words "Get well soon" over the top. Now I felt terrible. He just wanted to make sure I was okay and I sent him away, upset, once again. My stitches began to ache again. I told myself that next time I saw him I would make things right.

-

It was a fabulously sunny day when I was wheeled out of the hospital to the parking lot. I grabbed hold of my mother's arm as she helped me regain my balance after getting out of the chair. I straightened out my skirt and white tank top my mother brought for me, I was thankful to finally be out of that revealing hospital gown. It was like a breath of fresh air seeing something that was designed purely for aesthetics for once.

For the most part I was better, shaky still, but better and since I was better my day with Mr. Chiba would begin shortly. My mother helped me to the car and drove me to the Zoo where I would meet him as promised. After she left I looked around the Zoo, it was the typical type, balloons and exhibits. They had a large plastic shark popping out of a billboard advertising their new aquarium exhibit. While I looked for Mr. Chiba I noticed that the only people that were visiting were children and couples and it sort of hit me it _was_ like a date. For a moment I wondered if it was right for me to accept the meeting but before I could dwell on it for long I spotted Mr. Chiba waving to me from the garden area.

"Hi!' I greeted walking a little slower than normal. He smiled and returned the greeting.

"Should we get you one of those motor chairs?" He asked noting my struggled movements. I shook my head and just grabbed hold of his arm. There was no way such a thoughtful man could take advantage of me the way Seiya suggested just no way. In a way Mr. Chiba was like me; perfectly normal and nice but misunderstood and taken out of context purely for the entertainment of others. He was a kindred spirit.

"No, I'm ok. I can walk we just have to take our time."

We saw almost every exhibit and, like he had promised, it was completely educational. I learned everything about everything, pond ecosystems, the life cycle, habits of certain animals and just about everything else there was to know. Due to my slow pace though, it took us some time to go through the entire Zoo. By the time we came to the last exhibit, the place was ready to close and most of the people had vacated. It was nice though, it made it easier for me to cruise around the newest aquarium exhibit without stumbling through crowds of school children.

A little out of breath, I sat down on one of the benches facing the shark tank. I looked above me to see that the tank not only was on the walls but actually went over the ceiling as well. Had we actually be under the ocean I would have been concerned that if the glass broke we'd all be drowned. Mr. Chiba sat down next to me and he mentioned a few things about the fish there and then his lecture was over.

"This was really fun, Mr. Chiba, thank you." I said still examining the tanks.

"Mamoru." He said.

"Excuse me?"

"Call me Mamoru - It's my name. I like to think of you as a friend so please call me by a less formal name." There it was: the clue that he wanted it to be more than a teacher-student relationship.

"That doesn't seem very professional." I commented cautiously.

"Don't get me wrong, you will call me Mr. Chiba at school." He said with a smile looking back at the sharks. I was jumping at shadows, I really was. Seiya had planted the seed of doubt in my mind and now I was starting to see Mr. Chiba as predator, "So what do you think of everything you've seen today?"

"I think I actually might want to consider Zoology when I go to college."

"That's my girl!" He cheered, "Science can never disappoint in my opinion."

"I hope I don't disappoint you if it turns out I don't latch onto it. I'm still not positive what I want to do with my life."

He looked over to me, "Don't worry. You could never disappoint me." I laughed nervously. I didn't know what to say to him. I looked down and I felt a hand brush my pigtail away from my face. I looked up at him from the corner of my eye to see him leaning closer to me. I wasn't sure what to think. Up until then he had redeemed himself every time he did something strange so I waited for it. Instead I got a peck on the cheek.

I quickly turned to him with my eyes wide holding my hand to my cheek as if I had been burned. I wanted to say something but I was too stunned by his actions. I just shook my head trying to let him know he had gone too far but instead he just brought a hand behind my neck and moved over my mouth. His lips were soft and warm, but there was nothing behind them. It was him putting his mouth on mine, nothing more than that. I tried to pull away but he was more persistent. He put his hand on my chest, over my scar and I struggled away as quickly as I could.

"M-Mr. Chiba, this is not right. You can't do those sorts of things with a student…" I stammered. His eyes went from ravenous to sad as if he honestly thought something was going to happen between us.

"I feel like there is something more between you and I. When I beat your heart for you, I felt your life under my hands and I fell in love with it - you - your essence. Usagi, everything about you infatuates me and I want it all. I've been in that type of relationship before and I tried to forget about but I just can't. I can't begin to tell you how hard the age difference hits me. But I have to remember that we really aren't that far apart! There are couples that have twenty years between them and they're happy. I think we can have that same happiness."

"But they _choose_ to be together. Mr. Chiba, I don't see you as anything more than a teacher. I don't even know anything about you other than that." He began to close in on me again this time he trapped me against the glass of the aquarium. I ducked under his arm and kept my distance from him. He frowned and stayed where he was.

"Age doesn't matter in the adult world, Usagi. I don't think you can fully understand that right now. I won't make you do anything you don't want to right now but when you graduate I want you to find me again so we can get to know each other on different terms. Can you do that one thing for me?"

I nodded and said "sure" just to make him stop. I decided his agreement left me room to insult him but never see him again. The answer seemed to work as a smile appeared on his face. Though I didn't know why I wanted to be polite to a man that probably would have taken me to bed had I not made effort to get away. I then realized how he was able to have a relationship with Rei without getting fired, and he no doubt had one with her. He took her out of the school and never crossed lines he knew would be undeniable evidence of his actions. I suddenly felt very stupid. He was playing me the entire time trying to make me feel safe with him. I was so stupid not to see it.

He held his hand out to me and said something, I assumed it was something like "let me drive you home" or "let's talk" but the blood that was rushing to my head was drowning out all the sound. My breathing was thick and my stab wound was aching every time I inhaled. Too distraught, confused, and self loathing to talk, I waved him away and began to run in the opposite direction. I didn't know where I was going but I figured I had to find my own way home.

I don't know if the aquarium tunnel seemed never ending or if I was so out of it I didn't have an accurate concept of time but eventually I found the exit and ended up out in the parking lot. Once I was there I just stood staring at the night sky and the black top illuminated by the soft orange street lamps in the parking lot. I looked down at my white shirt to see a red stain on my chest. My vision was blurring again like the first time. I heard my name called to me. No it wasn't my name, it was "_Odango"_. I looked up from my chest, I saw the fuzzy figure of a man running towards me, as he came closer I saw it was Seiya. He was saying something, I don't really know what, but I responded with a delirious smile.

"Look, my heart wants to pour right out of me." I said before I collapsed. My eyes began to open and close from the blood loss. Every time I opened them again, Seiya was doing something new. It was like a movie that had frames cut from it. In one frame he was hovering over me, in the next he was on the phone, and after that he was placing his hands over my heart keeping me from bleeding more any more than I was. I kept my eyes open after that and just lay silently on the concrete watching his hands keep my blood inside me. Eventually I'd see him struggle to take his black school coat off and place it over me while holding at least one hand on me. While the coat was probably more effective I wanted his warm hands to do the job, just his warm hands. I started to fall asleep to that thought when I was suddenly jerked back into consciousness.

I looked up to see bright lights flying above me and silhouettes of men and women looking at me through masks and holding me in place. Not knowing where I was, I screamed and quickly tried to struggle up but the masked people pushed me back down once my chest started to gush again. Someone pressed Seiya's coat harder into my chest and announce in a booming voice that I was losing too much blood. Suddenly the lights stopped moving. I heard voices around me, all foreign except one.

"Is she going to be okay?" He asked in a tone I had never heard from him. Other people were talking but all I could hear was him echoing through my head, "I'm O positive, I'll do it." Suddenly a man placed a plastic cup of some sort over my mouth and told me to count backwards from one hundred if I could. One hund – then blackness.

I woke up once again, in another ugly hospital gown. No one was watching over me this time, there were no flowers on my desk. No smiling Mr. Chiba coming to visit me, even my mother was missing from the scene. I groaned at the aching in my chest, my anesthetic had worn off from my operation and the pain stretched through my body in sharp lines like a spider's web. I looked over to the button to call the nurse and struggled to reach it but instead it slipped off the nightstand and onto the floor. I rolled over and watched it dangle, out of my reach. I stretched my fingers out hoping to grab it even in the slightest but there was nothing. So I began to cry out of frustration, and maybe the pain.

"How could I do this to myself?" I mumbled to myself through my tears. "I shouldn't have ran…I should have just taken what I deserved…_I should have just taken what I_ _deserved_…" Without noticing someone had entered my room, I wept harder from the sound of my own depressing words. A hand startled me as it rested on my side. I looked up, not bothering to wipe my face, to find Seiya's blue eyes peering down at me. We both said nothing, instead he sat down in the chair by my bed like the last time I saw him and he just stared at me again. This time his expression had a softened feel about it. I couldn't handle him watching me the way he did. I covered my face with my hands and curled up tighter, I could feel my tears sliding around on the plastic of my I.D. bracelet.

"You were right to run." He said calmly, I peeked between my fists at him. His face was pale and tired.

"I've just landed myself here again, though."

"It's better to be here."

"…Why were you there in the parking lot?"

"I was worried about you, I don't trust Chiba as far as I can throw him and I never thought for once he was going to just take you on a nice little trip. Men have motives. They're never alone with women without a motive in mind."

"You're alone with me right now. Do you have a motive?"

"I sure do," He said frankly, "My motive is to keep you safe."

I was silent now, feeling worse than ever. Not knowing who I owed myself to, "I made a promise with him. I'd find him after I graduated. He said he had a connection to me because he beat my heart for me."

Seiya cursed under his breath and shook his head, "Why would you do such a thing? That line is obviously him trying to guilt you into doing what he wants." He started to go on a little mini diatribe until he realized I was crying again. I didn't want to hear about him anymore, even if it was negative. I hid my face behind my hands letting my blond bangs stick out from between my fingers.

"He kissed me and I was scared. I didn't know if I owed it to him or if I had the right to push him away. My life is worth giving up my first kiss to someone I didn't want to be with. It's just a little thing right?"

"You don't owe anything to him. Just being alive should be enough to make him happy if he really loved you."

"But I'm _living_ because of him…"

"You're _living_ because of me now. He beat your heart for you but my blood is now in your body. And I don't think you owe me anything, I don't need you to love me. I don't even need you to like me. Just having you around is a good enough payment." He settled further into his seat and sighed leaning his head back in a drowsy fashion. His skin was so pale from donating his blood. He must have been so tired yet he stayed with me. I wanted to hug him in thanks but sitting up hurt my chest, so instead I reached my hand out in front of me. He sat forward and tried to find what I was reaching for.

"Are you in pain? Do you need the nurse call button?" He asked picking it up from the ground. I shook my head. He scooted his chair closer to my bed and took hold of my outstretched hand. After noticing I just wanted to hold his hand, he smiled a little granted it to me. It was so strange just touching him for the sake of it. Before, we would be so reluctant to even talk to each other but now all I wanted was to connect with him.

At first he was just holding my hand but then, absentmindedly, he started feeling it with his fingers; massaging my palm with his thumbs and caressing the smooth skin on the back of my hand. It felt good but I didn't know how to respond, it was such an unfamiliar behavior from him, so gentile and pleasant, and it caught me completely by surprise. I suddenly was more aware that my heartbeat was speeding up from the sound on the heart monitor that was hooked to my chest. It was embarrassing since it was loud enough so we could both hear it. He looked up from my hand, and glanced at the monitor. He then looked back to me with playful sapphire eyes and the next thing I knew he put my hand up to his face and kissed the top of it lightly with warm, teasing lips. I made a small noise as my jaw dropped. He glanced up at the monitor again, which was beeping faster than it was a few minutes ago, and he smiled mischievously as he started to lean closer to me.

He knew exactly what was happening, every time the monitor beeped faster, the more secrets it told about me. It told him that I felt his touch was something more than a friend's and it said that the scent of his cologne was something that I craved more and more the closer he got. It told him that the heat from his body radiating through my thin hospital gown and the weight of him leaning over me on my bed was making my body tingle. Soon we were looking one another straight in the eyes. His lips were only inches from my own while my heart monitor was screaming for him to stop teasing and just _do it_. My face was hot and obviously displaying a color I couldn't hide, but I didn't care. If he was just playing with me then he knew what I was thinking, he knew what I wanted. And all I wanted was to see if his lips tasted like the same cinnamon and vanilla in his cologne.

Suddenly we heard the creak of the door to my room. Seiya bolted up trying to hide a sudden blush from his face as he pushed the chair back into place. He took a glance at my mother and walked to the other side of the room as inconspicuously as possible. My mother peered from behind the door and rushed over to my side. Her forehead stripped with worry lines. She looked up at my monitor and kissed my forehead.

"Oh my poor baby, your heart must be working overtime now since they took that last shard out."

Done with cursing her arrival I blinked, "Wait, last shard?"

"I just got done talking with your doctor. He informed me that there was a small sliver of glass left in your chest. They overlooked it the first time because they didn't think that it penetrated the heart that much. Turns out the found the little piece they missed after you started bleeding again."

"That explains a lot." I commented.

"Yes, so there will be some scaring they said and you'll have to come in every couple of months so they can ultrasound your heart to see if everything is working okay."

I shrugged, "Well I guess that should be the least of my problems, at least I'm not dead."

My mother looked back to my heart monitor which had gone back to its normal resting rhythm. I looked over to Seiya who was trying to be invisible to my mother but she noticed me staring at him and immediately made a face.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to leave my daughter alone." She said trying to keep her voice down. It was very late still.

"I – I just wanted to make sure she was okay." He said hopeful that his concern would be enough to keep her at bay.

"Really, he was. He donated his blood to me." I defended him.

"That maybe so but he doesn't have to hang around afterwards. I'd like it if you left, Soiya.

"Seiya, mom."

"Whatever. Out." She waved to him. He walked to the door and gave a playful wink at me making me smile as he left. My mother began rambling on about her opinion on him but I wasn't listening. It was all just white noise to me as replayed the way I felt as Seiya played his little game with my heart beat. I didn't know what to think about it, he told me he didn't need me to love him or even like him but did he want me to? I knew_ I_ was certainly considering it.


	9. Chapter 9

Wow this chapter was long. I didn't realize how long it was when I left it unfinished a couple months ago. Sorry for the delays, I've been adjusting to my new life in New York City where I go to school and I just haven't had time to write. But since I've been on break I've had the chance to finish this chapter up. I did some editing on the first half but not the second half of it, I really just wanted t get this up for now since it's been so long and fix it in a day or so. Anyways, please enjoy.

**Chapter 9: -Usagi-**

My hospital stay wasn't nearly as long as the last and I was sent home in no time. Partially because there was no need and partially because hospital stays did not run cheap to say the least. To my displeasure I had been told I could still attend school, but the good news was I wasn't allowed to attend gym for a whole month. I wasn't too torn up about having to still go to school though. I knew that I could see Seiya there. I hadn't seen him since he brought me to the hospital but I still had fantasies about his last visit. I guessed he never returned for fear of my mother, that was understandable, but I was wondering if he was thinking about me as much as I was thinking about him.

On my first morning home, my mother slapped a little rectangular box on the breakfast table. It was a translucent green color and was separated into compartments with letters representing the days of the weeks on top. I felt I didn't really need to ask what it was, but my mother explained to me anyways that I was to take two Aspirin in the morning to thin out my blood and make living easier on my heart. I sighed as I looked at the little case of pills, it wasn't that much of a burden but I knew the load I'd have to carry would get heavier as I got older. By just looking at the small green box I could tell the value of my youth had gone up considerably.

The school day hadn't been particularly exciting. I had many people stopping me in the halls telling me they were happy to see me back and that they were glad that I was okay. Judging from the fact that I didn't know any of them, I figured they were all secretly trying to catch glimpses of the damage from the event everyone was talking about. I didn't know why they even tried, it wasn't like I was going to lift up my shirt and show them. The one thing I did find interesting were the amount of people giving me odd looks. I could walk by a group of boys and be seemingly invisible, but when I walked by the girls they would shoot daggers at me. Well, more than usual.

During lunch that afternoon I saw Haruka leaning over the fence, blowing her sandy bangs out of her face with her lower lip stuck out. It was good to see she had finally battled out her bout with the flu and was back in action as my crazy, overzealous, sidekick. "Happy to be back?" She asked me as she hung her arms limply over the side of the fence. I wanted to say yes but it would be dishonest, I wanted to come back to see Seiya but I hadn't seen him all day and it seemed strange to me. I normally bumped into him once or twice. I worried he was avoiding me.

"_It makes sense_," I thought, "_If you get the nerd girl all riled up she'll never leave you alone!_" I mentally kicked myself. I had to stop thinking so negatively.

"Usagi, are you listening?" Haruka asked waving her hands in front of my eyes.

"Yeah, sorry I was just thinking."

"About what?"

I took a second to figure out how to answer her question. As my friend she deserved to know what I was thinking but I wasn't sure if she would grab on to the idea of me having interests in Seiya. The car incident was a while ago and I assumed that she was over it after having exacted her revenge. "To be honest…I've been thinking about Seiya." I started quietly.

"Seiya?" She questioned, leaning a little more over the fence.

"He visited me in the hospital and well, things got interesting."

She cocked an eyebrow at me, "What kind of _interesting_?"

"Like, boy – girl interesting." I tried to make it sound as innocent as possible but I could see her face winding up in disgust and regretted ever saying anything. I tried to take it back and pretend that it wasn't important but Haruka's short fuse was lit.

"Oh, don't fall for his bullshit; the guy is a wolf in sheep's clothing! He's either A. trying to make fun of you or B. trying to get an easy lay!"

"I really don't think he's like that. He genuinely seems to care about me; I mean he brought me a get well card while I was in the hospital. That's _got _to mean _something_, doesn't it?"

"Well if you think like that then he's already hooked you!" She spat "You're like that you know."

Frowning, I placed my hands on my hips. "I'm like _how_?!" I snapped.

"You know what I'm talking about. You get all gooey when people give you gifts or compliment you. If you say or think one bad thought about them you immediately think about the good stuff they've done and you immediately kick yourself and guilt trip over it. One sincere looking smile and someone can erase every terrible thing they've done to you."

"That is absolutely baseless!" I shouted.

"Is it? Already you have forgotten all the awful stuff he's said to you, not to mention what he's done to me!" She paused for a second and squinted her eyes at me, "Now that I look at it I can't tell what team you're playing on anymore."

"Since when were there teams? Actually _embracing_ those that tried to hurt me instead of doing things _your way_ has made me more friends than enemies. If there really are teams, you're the only one standing on your end of the field!" I could see that she wasn't taking the conversation well. Her rage was beginning to flood into her white knuckled grip on the fence and her bottom lip was being pinned down to keep her from saying anything further.

After taking two deep breathes she rose up her hand and acted as if she was swatting me away. "You know what, Usagi? You can do whatever the hell you want! If it means you want to pick some guy over your best friend; go for it. I just hope you know how much of a stupid twit you are right now."

I was livid. She had never called me a name in the whole time I knew her. I was almost positive that she was actually trying to hurt me. I rushed to the fence, with my fists curled up into tight little balls, "You want to resort to name calling now? That's kind of low! If you want to play it that way, I don't give a damn what a mannish _dyke_ like you thinks anyways!" I suddenly envisioned my words hitting her square in the jaw. She winced and pulled away from the fence like she had been burned by it. She swallowed and just stared at me. I covered up my mouth quickly wishing that it would undo what I said; but it didn't. I had laid down a sizable scar on our previously flawless friendship.

Haruka blinked a few times trying to hide the fact that her eyes were watering, she clenched her jaw and in a low steady tone told me, "Yeah, you embraced your new friends alright. If I'm not mistaken you also embraced some of their views."

"Haruka, I am so sorry. I didn't mean it!" I quickly said to her but my words hit her in the back as she sped off, leaving me alone at her fence staring at her disappearing figure in a catatonic state.

"I think Haruka feels you're putting your relationship in jeopardy by trying to be close to Seiya." Michiru announced from behind me. I spun around to see her standing by the cherry tree with her pale hand draped lightly over her lips.

"Oh. Michiru! I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were here!" I stammered praying she hadn't been there the entire time, "You didn't hear what I said to Haruka did you?"

"I did."

"I'm sorry about the word I used…I didn't mean it…"

"I know, you were upset, we all do it sometimes." She said with a small smile as she stepped closer to me."

"I really don't see how Haruka thinks Seiya could hurt our friendship, I thought that maybe I could get everyone to be friends with each other if he and I got together – which I'm not sure if it will. That's why I decided to tell her. I wanted to ask her what to do…"

Michiru laughed and placed her hands on her lap, "Well, I don't think Haruka is the person to ask about that sort of thing anyways. First of all, she has no experience with guys and second of all she has trouble enough expressing herself in her own relationship. I wouldn't expect her to give you any acceptable advice," she paused as she watched my frustration rattle out of me in a sigh, "I think Minako might be out behind the science wing smoking. Why don't you go talk to her?"

I nodded in agreement while thanking Michiru and apologizing once again for being so rude. She waved it off as nothing and I went to look for Minako out back.

The science wing was pretty well populated but due to the time of year all of the college level courses had ended leaving some of the classrooms vacant. I walked past Mr. Chiba's room as fast as I could. I hadn't seen him since our little "date" and I intended to skip his class in order to keep it that way. But to my displeasure I heard his voice calling me from inside. I pretended to not hear it but he got up from his chair shouting, "Usagi". I couldn't get out of it. I turned around with the politest face I could manage. I didn't say anything I just looked at him, I didn't want him to think I wanted to engage with him in conversation.

He swept his bangs from his eyes and smiled again, he had no idea what that sort of flirty attitude did to me last time. I backed away from him. I did _not_ want to end up in the hospital again simply because I didn't have enough distance from him.

"Usagi," He said again his voice hesitating on my name just a little too long, "I…I just wanted to remind you to pick up your cap and gown for your graduation ceremony." It was creepy. It was as if he was counting down the days till he could legally start "the hunt". It sickened me just looking at him. He didn't know who I was enough for him to want me for my personality. It was all lust, he probably would have taken me back to his apartment for some seedy entertainment if I hadn't run away from him at the aquarium. The thought of him touching me made my stomach churn.

"Oh. Okay." I responded quickly turning to leave. I felt a hand on my shoulder turn me around gently. I felt my body stiffen up at the strange softness of his hand, had I not known what he tried to pull off days ago I would have strangely wanted it to stay there.

"Um…Since you've been out lately, I'm willing to help you with review for the final exam."

"_Of course you are."_ I thought to myself still maintaining my politeness in a slight smile. "Ah, that won't be necessary. I've been studying with friends for the last couple days. In fact! I'm on my way to meet her now! Have a good afternoon now!" Before he could bring up another excuse to get me alone with him, I stormed off to the back door like a bat out of hell.

Minako jumped up at my sudden burst through the exit, dropping her cigarette onto the floor. I braced my back against the door and tilted my head against it; she looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

"Oh, it's just Mr. Chiba." I stated waving my thumb over my shoulder, "He's been creeping me out."

"Oh…Okay…" She said still looking confused, I hadn't told anyone about Chiba not even Seiya, though I was sure he knew anyways. Minako bent over to pick her cigarette up. She stared at it bobbing her head a little to the side. I could tell she was wondering if the thirty second rule applied to cigarettes. Apparently it did. "So, what's up? looks like you got your shit ruined."

I stared at her, silently asking for her to explain what that blatant abuse of language meant.

She chuckled and pulled her cigarette from her mouth, "You don't look so good."

"Oh!" I said feeling a little stupid, "Life's just gotten really complicated lately, is all."

"How so?"

"I got in a fight with Haruka."

She cocked an eye brow and hopped onto the short brick divider. "Over?"

"A guy."

"Which guy?" She said with a mischievous smile rolling her cigarette delicately between her fingers. I didn't say anything I just blushed and looked down at the ground. I felt like such an ass. Seiya seemed like he liked me but only as a friend, I took the incident in the hospital as just some playful teasing but I wanted for it to be so much more. I had seen stuff like that on T.V. and it never meant anything. It was the sort of thing done just for tension and if that was what happened with Seiya, I didn't want ruin our whole relationship based on that.

"Well, it's not Haruka since she's really a chick and you're not into that," Minako pondered dramatically rubbing her chin, "and you don't really have any other male friends around you besides Seiya..."

I felt my face get hot at his name. It was so strange being put under the microscope by Minako, the queen of relationships. She had had more boyfriends than I could count so it was like judgment from God himself. She knew how to manipulate, charm, and romance any guy on the Earth I was honestly surprised she never tried it on Seiya. She was so pretty and popular, just like him, I had a hard time thinking that it wouldn't work between them.

"OH! It _is_ Seiya!" She squealed inching closer to me, "That is so adorable. I wondered how you were able to resist his good looks but it looks like you've succumbed to it like the rest of the world."

I laughed a little, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "Yeah, that's why I need your advice. I need to know, honestly, if you think I have a chance with him. We seem to be getting closer. We've had some pretty ambiguously flirtatious moments and I was wondering if you think it might mean something."

"Clarify these moments, please." She said popping the cigarette back into her mouth. I told her about the whole situation with Mr. Chiba and how Seiya had saved my life, by not only trying to stop my bleeding but donating his own blood to me. I then, through much whining from Minako, told her about the heart monitor incident. Her reaction was odd at first. She was silent and unresponsive to the story as I told it and by the end of it she was just staring at me. With her mouth slightly opened.

"So…what do you think?" I asked cautiously.

"That's hot." She laughed fanning herself with one hand while holding her almost finished cigarette in the other. I could feel myself blushing again and I laughed with her nervously. I never thought of my own life as "hot". It always seemed like my life with boys was shaky and awkward, every time I tried to ask someone out I would do something incredibly embarrassing. I've fallen down the stairs while attempting to ask someone to a dance, another time I accidentally sneezed milk in my crush's face. I won't explain how that happened though.

"Well," Minako said, ramming the butt of her cigarette against the school's brick wall, "I think that you should take the plunge. From what it sounds, Seiya might have something to offer you."

"But what if he just thinks I'm cute?"

She looked at me with a blond eyebrow cocked, "What if?" She repeated.

"I mean what if he doesn't love me. What if he just likes me for the way I look."

It looked like I was dragging her into foreign territory. She started to get a little fidgety once she started thinking about my question. "Is there anything wrong with that? I mean love just doesn't happen if you aren't _physically_ attracted to someone. It's like fishing, you show them a nice piece of bate and reel 'em in for the long term. It's long after all that when real love sets in. Right?"

I wanted to answer her question but I just didn't know. I had never felt love before, I couldn't even say myself if I was just attracted to Seiya because I thought he was cute or if I actually loved him. I was always more concerned whether people actually liked me for me or if they had some darker intentions. That's all lust is after all.

Minako shrugged and waved at the question like it was hanging invisibly in front of her, "I'm sure all that doesn't matter right now anyways! What I think you should do is go, find him, and tell him you've been thinking about him every waking minute!" She then gave me a big painful pat on the back and scooted me energetically to the door.

"But I don't even know where he is right now!" I said frantically trying to avoid such a sudden confrontation with him.

"Well it's still lunch time, he's probably outside or in the cafeteria. Now go! I don't want to hear that you chickened out at the last minute so expect to give me the 411 when the day is over."

Without another word I was pushed back into the halls of the school. I searched around most of the usual places to find him but he wasn't there. I found one or two people I would see him hang around with for lunch about his whereabouts. A boy with short brown hair directed me to a hallway behind the cafeteria. I thought it was a little strange that he seemed to be hiding and I worried that maybe something was wrong with him. I walked over to the little hall that was pointed out to me and I saw Seiya leaning against the wall, his face pointing toward a corner. I saw his back rising and falling rapidly as if his breathing was inhibited. It almost looked like he was crying…

Feeling awkward I approached him "Seiya…is something wrong?" I asked reaching my hand out to him. He quickly turned around with the strangest grin on his face. In his hand was a cell phone. I heard him finish up his conversation and then he slapped it shut. Gave a loud content sigh and held his arms out as if he was stretching for the first time in months.

"This is the greatest day of your life!" He announce in a sing song voice as he took me into a strange embrace, spinning me around almost picking me up off the ground. I felt a sudden surge of pure happiness as I smiled and wrapped my arms around his warm neck all the while inhaling his wonderful scent.

"Is it?" I laughed and played dumb. I guessed he had been looking for me too but we never met up. I could feel the joy rising in my chest. He stopped swinging me around and placed me gently on my feet. He gazed down at me with excited blue eyes and took a deep breath.

"They want me back!" He announced.

"What?"

"I've been on the phone with a new record company all day and they said that even though my previous contract was shredded because of my lip sinking I still have the image they want. They'll sign me on and I'll have a job again!"

It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, I felt a little disappointed but happy at the same time knowing that the wrongs I had done to him were fixed. Lord knew that incident at his concert had put up far too many barriers. "Oh. So, when are you going to be back to work?"

"Well, once I get there. I've already booked my flight for tomorrow night, the soonest I could get was midnight but I don't really care."

I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. It was stupid of me to think that singing was just a job for him, it was an entire lifestyle. High school and college didn't mean anything to him it was all about where he was performing next. I wanted to cry, he was leaving just as I decided I wanted him to stay. But he looked so happy; happy to be leaving. As much as I didn't want to, I had to face the facts. If he saw no reason to stay then he didn't see me as anything more than a friend. I tried to give my best congratulatory smile and he accepted it as genuine. I wondered if he was too dumb to see I was faking or if maybe he just didn't know me well enough.

"A flight…So where are you going?" I asked him.

"Kyoto, I'll be there for a while since they want to do a promotional photo shoot. Some sort of Kabuki themed thing. Then after that I have no clue. Don't worry though, I'll send you a post card probably."

I smiled again, "Oh. Okay, that'll be great..."

"Is there something wrong?" He asked now seeing my visible displeasure with the situation.

"Oh, no," I laughed sadly. There was no way I'd make a fool of myself. I couldn't tell him anymore. "I was just thinking about how little time I have to organize a going away party for you."

He smiled and looked touched, "That's really sweet of you. Maybe you and Minako can do a little something at her place. I heard her parents are still out of town so it seems like the perfect place to hold it."

"You're probably right. I think I'll go back and talk to her about it a little later." I then turned around casually.

"_Odango_," He called from behind me, "We're friends now aren't we?"

"Yeah, I suppose we are." I said with a sad smile. I then walked away pretending that Seiya Kou didn't exist, it would be hard to forget him though, his face would have no doubt been plastered on the cover of every magazine within the week. Instead of going to see Minako I went and actually attended Mr. Chiba's class just to get my mind off of it all. I noticed he was looking at me more than usual. His face looked too concerned for a predator's. It could have also been because I was clearly not concentrating; instead I stared at a jar of formaldehyde thinking about curling up and dying in it.

-

"You what?!" Minako screamed after promptly spitting all of her latte back into it's Styrofoam cup. I'm not sure if she was angry about me telling her about it the day of the party or if it was about me basically helping Seiya pack. "How could you do that? You're kicking him out the door!"

"I can't stop it. He's going to go back to being rich and famous again. He'll have all sorts of women at his disposal, and they'll probably be prettier than me. Not to mention he'll have money and influence and I can't really give him any of that if I can get him to stay."

"But throwing him a party isn't going to make things better. You're basically telling him you want him to leave."

"Maybe I do."

"Now you're just being dramatic. You still have a chance to make things right. Tell him at the party." I tried to make up an excuse but she cut me off expecting it from me, "I don't want to hear it. I just want to see you and him making out in my closet by the end of the night. Thank God we have a half day today, I need to get home and clean up my house for this thing."

"We have a half day today?" I asked.

"Yeah it's for the freshman exams I think. Can you believe the year is over already? We graduate in like four days."

Normally I would have been happy for the end of the year but this year was my last. The stress I was feeling was unbearable. Once I graduated my childhood was over and my clock would begin to tick and all the things I hadn't done up until then would begin to ride me down into the ground. I was a virgin who didn't know what she wanted from life; I had applied to no colleges and had no ambitions for anything after high school. I was a little girl still afraid of the dark unsuccessfully still trying to figure out boys.

"Yeah," I said quietly, "It's amazing how little time we have to get things done."

"I know!" She said excitedly, "Anyways I think I'm going to skip class all together today, no use it sticking around. I might as well get a head start on the party. I'll see you later!" She then skipped off bumping into Seiya as he turned the corner.

"Ah, _Odango_." He said waving to me with a smile on his face. "Can you believe it's all over?"

"Yeah, I was just talking to Minako about that. Everyone will be leaving and going off to different schools."

"Which reminds me, is that party still on for tonight?"

"Yeah, it's still on." I said, there was a sad silence between us.

"I didn't know any of you for very long, but I feel sad to go." He said in a melancholy tone.

"I know, there is so much we didn't do. If you had been nicer to me sooner maybe you could have made a 'special' friend out of me." I tried to make the joke but part of me was hoping he would pick up on the hint I was so desperately trying to drop. Oddly enough he didn't laugh like I expected him to. He just smiled with sad eyes and agreed with me.

"Well…I should be going to class. I'll see you later tonight." He said waving to me. I waved back and watched his figure disappear into the school.

I was half tempted just to give up and go home. All my energy for the week had escaped me when I heard he was leaving. For the rest of my half day I daydreamed and brooded through all of my classes. After picking up my cap and gown as Mr. Chiba suggested I went home to see my mother sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast even though it was noon. I guessed that she had a night shift and was readying herself for a long day. I sat down with a sigh at the table and she arched an eyebrow at me.

"Why are you home so soon?" She asked suspiciously, I knew exactly what she was thinking. She was expecting me to have skipped out on class thinking she was away for the day. I had to chuckle to my self though, I had never played hooky a day in my life and she was still suspicious of me even on the last day of school.

"Half day, for freshman exams." I stated, playing with my cap's tassel in its plastic bag.

"You do know you're getting a job this summer. I won't have you just loafing around while you search for a college." She said coldly stirring her coffee with a spoon. It was always business with her.

"I know." I whined, I didn't want to think about it so I tried to change the conversation. "You remember Minako, right?"

"Yeah."

"There is a goodbye party for someone tonight and I was thinking of going." Before I could say anything more my mother shook her head without a word. I should have expected it to be that way, I wanted to fight with her but I just didn't have it in me. Calming reason might have worked just fine.

"It's Seiya though. And he's leaving for good so I'll never see him again."

"Good, you're still not going." She said again not looking away from her coffee.

"Why are you like this, Mom?" I asked her out of frustration, she looked up at me with a startled expression.

"Like what?" She asked.

"Why do you treat me like I'm eight? If I'd chosen I college I would have been miles away from you and you would have no idea what I was doing."

"My house my rules. If you're in my house I don't want to have to deal with some drunken pregnant girl with no motivation. If you went and lived on your own you would be your own problem not mine."

"You're automatically thinking I'd be going out and having drunken sex with strangers. Doesn't that seem a little unrealistic?"

"Is it? I have yet to see you drunk or pregnant so I'm doing something right."

"But you never got the chance to see if you were wrong either." I said. She immediately saw where I was going with the conversation and went to the sink to dump her coffee out.

"Usagi, I don't have time for this, I have to go to work in two hours and I need to do things around the house before this." She then left the kitchen leaving me to myself. Exhausted from everything I went up stairs and fell asleep on my bed.

-

I woke up to the sound of my cell phone ringing. At first I had no idea what it was, I rarely used it and the noise was alarming to me. I flipped it open to hear Minako's voice through the speaker. "Usagi, where are you?!" She shouted through the sound of other people in the background.

"I'm at home."

"The party's been going on for two hours now! Why aren't you here!?" She asked frantically. I rolled over on my side and spotted the time on my alarm clock. It was nine thirty already, my mother was gone by then. I moaned and covered my eyes with my hand.

"My mom won't let me go out tonight?"

"What? Why? You need to tell Seiya how you feel!"

"I know, I know. But it's my mom…"

"Screw your mom, she's a bitch anyways! This is more important than being grounded for a week. Sneak out and come here. Anyways, I got to go. I'll talk to you later." Without another word she hung up leaving me to stare at my clock. She was right, being grounded was worth being with Seiya and saying goodbye to him. I pulled a sweater over my school uniform and walked down the front door. I slipped my shoes on and placed my hands on the cool doorknob. It was so easy to walk out of my empty house and see him but it was like there was a barrier between me and the door. But what did it matter, so I told Seiya, what then? He wouldn't stay for me, a goofy girl in pigtails wasn't worth forty million a year. Defeated by myself, I took my shoes off again and walked back to my room.

I felt so sad. I wanted to tell him to stay with me but instead I laid on my bed for hours watching the sky darken as the night went on without me. I wondered what he was doing at the party, if he was enjoying himself, if he was upset that I wasn't there. I guessed that he was having a good time; I didn't get another call from Minako saying anything about him. I guessed that his happiness was too sad to tell me about. Thinking about him going about his night not knowing or caring how I felt made my heart sink deep into my chest. I felt hot tears roll down my face; no one was there to watch so I sobbed my heart out as I watched the clock tick closer to his departure. I could see him in my mind hugging all his friends, laughing with them as he got into his cab to the airport. I tried to stop thinking about him but I couldn't help looking at my clock. If I were a stupider girl I would have jumped up off my bed and ran to him, catching him just minutes before he got onto his plane.

I fished around in my bag trying to find my cell phone. I figured that I would call and apologize to Haruka, it was stupid for me to lose a friend over someone who never cared about me the way I cared about him. I went into my address book, I rarely used it and it was bare for the most part. I had always quickly stored numbers in there for emergencies only, Haruka if I needed a ride, my mother for if I was hurt. Looking through my contacts I saw a number that had no name to it. The entire time I had the phone I never noticed it was there.

Suddenly my mind thought "What if?". I highlighted the name and clicked send. I held my breath as I listened to a mechanical ring on the other line. It rang for a few times with no answer, I began to wonder if I had dialed a number placed there by the phone company. Suddenly the ringing stopped; it was someone's voice mail message.

"Hi you have reached Seiya Kou I'm not here right now but leave me a message after the beep." I suddenly felt my eyes get hot and heavy and, once again, tears were pouring from my eyes. He never gave me his number. He gave me the phone. He was the one that left it on my doorstep. He knew how he felt about me the entire time but he must have been waiting for me to make the first move and say something. I looked over to my clock; it was almost a half hour till midnight. I still had time.

I quickly clutched my bag to my chest and I ran downstairs, I could hear my mother squawking at me in my head. She could have grounded me for the rest of my life and I wouldn't have cared I could run away with him and forget she even existed. "Fuck her." I laughed and repeated deliriously to myself as I slipped on my shoes and ran down the street. I sprinted into the subway just barely catching a train. I slid quickly through the metal doors and stood anxiously waiting for it to stop. I made sure I was the closest to the door so I could be the first to get off. Once it came to a screaming halt I quickly ran up the stairs and hailed the nearest cab. I falling into the cab, I demanded to be taken to the airport. I looked at the clock I had ten minutes to stop him. I sat back in the cab, trying to relax but I found it hard. My stomach felt like it was doing back flips and my body was almost completely tensed.

In the back seat of the taxi I heard the buzzing of the radio come from the speakers as I watched the street lamps strobe as we drove past them, "_Well I'm not seventeen, but I've cuts on my knees...'Sit in the chair and be good now', and become all that they've told you…she's been everybody else's girl maybe one day she'll be her own…._"

The taxi screeched to a halt at the airport, I threw an uncounted amount of money at the driver and ran into the building and to the escalators. I pushed past it's riders ignoring their angry comments shot at my back. I heard the sound of Seiya's plane being boarded over the intercom as it made it's last call. With some difficulty I found the correct terminal, I flight attendant at the gate ushered the last flyer on to the ramp.

"Stop!" I screamed running toward the woman.

"May I see your ticket?" She asked in a pleasant tone.

"I don't have one. I need to talk to someone on the plane though! Please!"

"I'm sorry miss but we don't allow anyone who doesn't have a ticket on the plane. It's the law I'm afraid." She said still maintaining her manners. Fed up with her rules I tried to go past her screaming Seiya's name. The woman pushed me back and called to a security guard who pulled me from the ramp. After calming down the man let me go and I stood at the window watching the plane move down the runway and up into the sky, my wet face pressed into the purse he gave me, hoping I could get one last trace of his cinnamon scent. I was too late.


End file.
